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Iran Releases Narges Mohammadi on Bail for Medical Treatment
Iranian authorities released Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on bail Sunday after she suffered two suspected heart attacks in prison and her health deteriorated sharply. The 54-year-old activist, who has spent much of the past two decades in and out of prison, was transferred by ambulance from Zanjan to a Tehran hospital to be treated by her own medical team.
May 10, 5:03 PM·3m read7 sources
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France 24Audio version
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Iranian authorities on Sunday released Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on bail and transferred her by ambulance to a hospital in Tehran for urgent medical treatment after supporters warned she was at risk of dying in prison. After 10 days of hospitalization in Zanjan in northern Iran where she had been serving her sentence, Mohammadi was granted a sentence suspension on heavy bail.
Her supporters said she had been moved to be treated by her own medical team. The decision came after she suffered two suspected heart attacks behind bars, one on March 24 and another on May 1. " He added that while she is currently hospitalized following a catastrophic health failure, a temporary transfer is not enough and she must never be returned to the conditions that broke her health.
Her supporters had warned last week that the 54-year-old activist was at risk of dying after the heart incidents in Zanjan prison. A Paris-based lawyer said Mohammadi had lost 20 kilograms, had difficulty speaking and was currently unrecognizable from her state before her latest arrest.
Mohammadi already suffered from a heart condition before the latest incidents. After the most recent suspected heart attack she was rushed to hospital in Zanjan but remained under constant guard. Her condition was also affected by the war between Iran and the United States and Israel, with at least three air strikes close to her prison.
A smuggled memoir written by Mohammadi over the past decade details beatings, constant interrogations, deprivation of medical care and long stretches in solitary confinement during her numerous imprisonments. She wrote that there is no hardship worse than illness combined with imprisonment and that authoritarian regimes sometimes simply wait for the human body to fail.
The writings were smuggled out by fellow prisoners and visitors from Evin, Qarchak and Zanjan prisons at considerable risk. Pages or notebooks were discovered and destroyed by prison guards several times, requiring the material to be rewritten. The memoir, which covers her early life, path into activism and years in prison, is scheduled for publication in September.
