Iran's jailed Nobel Prize winner Narges Mohammadi ends hunger strike

Jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi's family member stated that the activist has ended her hunger strike after she was allowed to get medical treatment without wearing the compulsory head covering.

In a message shared on the activist's Instagram account on Thursday, family members of the activist said she was taken to a hospital for a medical examination on Wednesday (Nov 8). She is suffering from heart and lung conditions.

"After being transferred to the hospital without wearing the compulsory hijab and returning to the women's ward, I ended my hunger strike," Mohammadi was quoted as saying in the press statement.

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The 51-year-old veteran rights activist has been kept in Evin prison of Tehran. In October, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran".

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Mohammadi's protest against hijab

On Monday, her family members stated that Mohammadi had started her hunger strike to protest against the limits imposed on medical care for her and other inmates and the compulsion that she and other women were facing to cover their hair in public in the Islamic republic.

The friends and allies, who had collected to meet Mohammadi at the hospital, were "threatened and harassed by Islamic Republic Security forces," said her supporters on Thursday (Nov 9).

Mohammadi has refused to wear a hijab, which is a head covering that has been made obligatory for women in public areas since the 1979 Islamic Revolution took place in Iran, under any circumstances. She further took the oath to continue to refuse to wear the headscarf.

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"Until the abolition of the 'forced hijab,' I will continue to walk like this on the streets, and you will tremble at the sight of us women without the 'forced hijab,'" the activist was quoted as saying.

Mohammadi, who was first arrested 22 years ago, has remained imprisoned for much of the last two decades for campaigning in support of human rights in Iran.

Since November 2021, the activist has most recently been incarcerated and has not been able to meet her children, who are based in France, for eight years.

The Nobel Prize announcement came at a time when Iran faced months-long protests after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Mohammadi's Nobel came in the wake of months-long protests across Iran triggered by the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been arrested for allegedly flouting the Islamic republic's strict dress rules for women.

(With inputs from agencies)