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Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year, has begun a hunger strike in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, her family announced.
Mohammadi is protesting that she and other prisoners are denied hospital care and against the compulsion of women to wear the hijab in Iran, according to the family.
The 51-year-old Mohammadi has problems with her heart and lungs, and according to the family, her life could be in danger.
“Narges Mohammadi has today, through a message from Evin Prison, informed her family that she started a hunger strike several hours ago. We are concerned about Narges Mohammadi’s physical condition and health,” the family said in a statement.
Holds Iran guilty
Mohammadi has previously said that under no circumstances will she wear a hijab – the headscarf that has been compulsory for women in Iran since the 1979 revolution. The prison, in turn, has refused to send Mohammadi to hospital without a headscarf.
Mohammadi’s family holds the Islamic Republic responsible for what is now happening to her.
“For a week they have refused to give her the medical help she needs.”
Concerned Nobel Committee
Nobel committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen says in a statement that she is worried about Mohammadi.
“The Nobel Committee is deeply concerned about Mohammadi’s health after she was denied medical treatment. Requiring female inmates to wear hijab to be admitted to hospital is inhumane and morally unacceptable,” she says.
Narges Mohammadi has waged a long struggle for women’s rights in her home country. For that, she has been arrested many times, sentenced to several prison sentences and subjected to numerous whippings. In October, she was awarded the Peace Prize for her fight for Iran’s women.