Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi starts hunger strike in Iranian jail

Tehran: Nobel Prize winning Iranian human right activist Narges Mohammadi has begun a hunger strike in jail on Monday morning, BBC reported citing her family.

She is protesting against Iran’s denial of medical care to her and other inmates and the country’s mandatory hijab law.

The 51-year-old badly needed treatment for heart and lung conditions which a prosecutor denied after she refused to cover her hair.

Quoting a prison doctor it is reported that diagnosis and echocardiogram showed that she is need of emergency transfer to a ‘heart and lung centre’.

Her family reportedly said they received a message from Tehran's Evin prison stating Mohammadi started hunger strike.

Mohammadi, who is the vice-president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran, was arrested 13 times and convicted five times before handing out a total of 31 years in prison.

The Nobel laureate is currently serving a 10-year prison term and was also sentenced to 154 lashes which according to BBC is unclear if it was carried out.

Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, expressed concern about Iran’s denial of medical care to Mohammadi.

‘The requirement that female inmates must wear a hijab in order to be hospitalised is inhumane and morally unacceptable,’ AFP quoted Berit Reiss-Andersen as saying.

Mohammadi was awarded the peace prize for "her fight against the oppression of women in Iran”, according to the report.

Protest against Iran’s strict hijab law started on September 2022 following the death in custody of a young man Mahsa Amini who was detained for wearing an ‘improper’ hijab.