Nobel Peace Prize recipient Narges Mohammadi denied necessary medical treatment in Iranian prison, family reports

Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been denied necessary medical care by prison authorities because she refused to wear a hijab, according to her relatives. The 51-year-old was seeking a transfer from Evin prison to receive treatment for a heart condition, but her family claims that the prison warden prohibited her transfer without a headscarf. Mohammadi, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran, is now at risk of serious health complications. The family also revealed that a medical team visited the prison to examine her, but she was not allowed to be taken to the infirmary without a headscarf. The scan showed severe blockages in her veins, high lung pressure, and the urgent need for a coronary angiogram and lung scan. Despite the risks to her life, Mohammadi remains determined not to wear the "forced hijab" even for medical treatment. The family reported that women in Evin prison protested for two days and nights, demanding Mohammadi's transfer to a heart hospital. However, the prison warden claimed that higher authorities prohibited her transfer without a headscarf and subsequently canceled it. Mohammadi is currently serving multiple sentences totaling about 12 years in Tehran's Evin prison. She received the Nobel Peace Prize following widespread protests in Iran triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who was arrested for violating the country's strict dress code for women. Mohammadi has stood firm in her refusal to wear a hijab, viewing it as a tool of control and repression imposed on society. She has also voiced her outrage over the alleged beating death of 17-year-old Armita Garawand by the Tehran morality police for not wearing a headscarf, although Iranian authorities deny the accusations.