The heart attack and the violence: Iranian Nobel laureate Mohammadi refuses to give up: "She survives for her children."

She had to pay to be released from prison, to hire an ambulance, and to try to get to safety. Her family did this for her, because Narges Mohammadi is now fragile and injured, she lacks strength, and is under constant surveillance. But at least, finally, she is in the hands of her trusted doctors. She arrived at the Pars Hospital in Tehran on Saturday in critical condition after what are believed to be two cardiac arrests while she was detained in the Zanjan prison, in northwestern Iran, on March 24th and May 1st, and after ten days in intensive care in the city's hospital, which lacked the resources to treat her body, weakened by years of imprisonment. She lost almost 20 kg while in prison, and shortly after the first attack, she could barely walk; nurses had to help her. Nobel Peace Prize laureate for 2023, Mohammadi is a symbol and the soul of the fight for human rights and against the death penalty in Iran. The world knows her, and the Islamic Republic system fears her. "They were trying to get rid of people like Narges, detaining them in prison and denying them medical care," says her brother Hamidreza, who lives in Oslo. For weeks, the family has requested that she be transferred to a hospital in Tehran, where the medical team that has always treated her could stabilize her condition, her blood pressure which fluctuates wildly and puts her life at risk. "They strongly opposed it, but only thanks to the attention of the international community and public pressure were they forced to back down." And now they are watching her closely. In the ambulance that her family had to pay for out of pocket, after spending a lot of money on bail, was her sister, Roya, who lives in Iran. But unlike the numerous other times that Mohammadi has been released from prison for medical reasons, no video or image was released. There are no statements, no words, no sharp phrases that the Nobel laureate has always spoken as soon as she regained her freedom. "She is under strict surveillance." Phone calls to Tehran are complicated and brief; her brother has only seen her in photos, in the hospital, "very weak, very thin." Almost "unrecognizable," says her French lawyer, Chirinne Ardakani, who also represents Narges' husband, Taghi Rahmani, who has been living in exile in Paris with their children for more than ten years. This is the endless time that the tiger of democratic activism in Iran has spent without seeing her twin children, Ali and Kiana. "My most unbearable and indescribable suffering is the burning desire to be with my children, whom I left when they were eight years old," she confided in September 2023. And it is to them that she is thinking now, between prison, war, and intensive care. "Her main concern is her twins, who are under immense pressure: waiting every day for what could be terrible news has a devastating impact on two young people like that, they are 19 years old," says Hamidreza. The international community, human rights organizations, and the Nobel committee are calling on the Islamic Republic to release her, to drop the charges of "propaganda against the state" that have already cost her ten years in prison, and which could result in another 18 years to be served. Tehran remains silent. Born in Zanjan 54 years ago, Mohammadi began studying physics but later graduated in engineering. She began her career in civil activism as a young woman, following in the footsteps of another Iranian Nobel laureate, Shirin Ebadi. She organized sit-ins and peaceful protests, and acts of civil disobedience both inside and outside of prison. She wrote to denounce the psychological torture of isolation inflicted on political prisoners. "I will not allow prison to silence me. The commitment to women's rights, human rights, and freedom cannot be hindered by any wall," she said in 2024. Iranian state media almost never mention her, and when they do, it is only to accuse her of "acting against national security" and inciting acts of "sedition." However, Iranians know her, and that phrase she always repeats keeps hope alive for those who dream of a democratic country: "Victory will not be easy, but it is certain."