Family of Narges Mohammadi Makes 'Urgent' Request

Iran's most high-profile female political prisoner is back in an ICU, and her family says her life is on the line. Narges Mohammadi, the 54-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights activist, was rushed from a prison in the city of Zanjan to a local hospital on Friday after collapsing with severe chest pain and losing consciousness, according to her family and lawyer. Mohammadi remains in intensive care, but Iranian judicial authorities have allegedly refused repeated pleas from her loved ones to move her to a hospital in Tehran better able to treat her, and where her longtime cardiologist is based, per the New York Times.

"Our request is basic and urgent: Send her to a hospital in Tehran immediately," her husband, Taghi Rahmani, said from exile in Paris. Mohammadi, who has chronic heart issues and has had a lung embolism, has spent years in and out of prison over her pro-democracy work and is currently serving multiple sentences on national security charges. Her lawyers say she's also believed to have suffered a heart attack at the end of March, per the AP. Her deteriorating condition and the refusal to transfer her come as Iran steps up crackdowns on protesters, including via a recent wave of activist executions, per the Times. Iran's mission to the United Nations declined to comment on her case.