Iran's most prominent jailed activist is again refusing food. Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has launched a new hunger strike in an Iranian prison to protest what she calls her illegal detention, harsh conditions, and isolation from family and lawyers, her relatives said in a statement on Wednesday, per the New York Times. Mohammadi, 53, has spent years in and out of prison on national security charges tied to her advocacy for women's rights and political freedoms.
Mohammadi is currently being held in the northeastern city of Mashhad, away from her Tehran-based legal team, a move her husband says is meant to keep tighter control over her. Her family says she suffers from serious heart and lung problems and needs specialized care following bone graft surgery, treatment they say is being withheld. Ali Rahmani, Mohammadi's son, says in the release that his mother has long called for "solidarity, unity, and peace" and that he's now "deeply worried" for her, per CNN.
Mohammadi was briefly released for medical reasons in 2024 but was rearrested in December and allowed just one phone call, during which she said she'd been beaten and taken twice to an emergency room, per the Times. Iranian authorities have previously insisted she's held lawfully and that her rights have been respected. Her foundation says relatives are under pressure not to speak publicly as Iran continues a sweeping post-protest crackdown that rights groups say has left tens of thousands dead or detained. But "Narges will never be silenced," her husband, Taghi Rahmani, says in the release. "It is her voice that they fear most."
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