Iran Transfers Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi To Pars Hospital After Sentence Suspension On Bail

Narges Mohammadi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was transferred by ambulance to Pars hospital in Tehran for medical treatment after Iranian authorities granted her a sentence suspension on heavy bail, according to a foundation run by her family.

The foundation said Mohammadi was moved to Pars hospital in Tehran "to be treated by her own medical team," after she had been hospitalized in the northwestern city of Zanjan in Iran after collapsing in her prison cell.

Al Jazeera

Her husband, Taghi Rahmani, who lives in Paris, confirmed on social media that she had been transferred to Tehran, and the BBC reported that she spent 10 days at a hospital in Zanjan where she was serving her sentence.

The BBC also reported that Mohammadi had been transferred from jail to a Tehran hospital amid concern over her deteriorating health, and that her brother Hamidreza Mohammadi said he was relieved she would now receive adequate treatment from her own medical team.

Mohammadi’s family and supporters said her health remained in critical care after the transfer, with CBC reporting her husband Taghi Rahmani saying her current condition is "very dangerous."

CBC also quoted Rahmani saying, "This neglect was deliberate, and they intended to let Narges die," linking the transfer to intensified international pressure and describing beatings and time in a closed Ministry of Intelligence room.

Al-Monitor

The BBC reported that her brother Hamidreza Mohammadi cautioned that the seriousness of her condition was not yet clear, and it quoted him saying the bail provided "temporary relief from the certain death that Narges faced in the prison."

In the same BBC account, Hamidreza Mohammadi said he was worried about "the permanent damage that has been caused during these days in the prison," and he added that Mohammadi had been experiencing symptoms pointing toward variant angina.

Supporters and family members said the temporary transfer is not enough, with the BBC quoting Taghi Rahmani: "a temporary transfer is not enough."

The foundation and her supporters also said they want Mohammadi to avoid any return to prison conditions, and NPR reported the foundation’s statement that "we must ensure she never returns to prison to face the 18 years remaining on her sentence."

NPR said Mohammadi’s Iran-based lawyer Mostafa Nili stated that the transfer order was issued following the decision of the Legal Medicine Organization, which said she needed to continue treatment outside prison and under the supervision of her own medical team.

The BBC reported that Mohammadi has spent more than a decade of her life in prison and that in early February a Revolutionary Court sentenced her to an additional seven-and-a-half years after convictions for "gathering and collusion" and "propaganda activities," which her family and supporters say she should not have to serve under conditions they describe as harmful.