Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Iran’s most prominent jailed human rights activist, is fighting for her life after suffering two suspected cardiac arrests and losing consciousness in a Zanjan prison. Her lawyer, Shirin Ardakani, told a press conference in Paris that the 53-year-old is “between life and death”, warning that every hour of delay in transferring her to a better-equipped hospital in Tehran could prove fatal. Doctors have placed Mohammadi on oxygen in an intensive care unit, but Iranian security officials have blocked the move to a capital city facility, despite a recommendation from government-appointed medical examiners earlier this week.

The crisis has drawn intense international scrutiny to the Islamic Republic’s treatment of a Nobel laureate who has spent much of the past decade behind bars for her decades-long advocacy for women’s rights and the abolition of the death penalty. From Paris, where Mohammadi’s support committee is based, Ardakani drew a chilling parallel to the fate of Chinese dissident and Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, who died under state supervision in 2017, and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose death in custody earlier this year sparked global outrage. “We are not only fighting for her freedom; we are fighting for her heart to keep beating,” Ardakani said.

In Washington, the World Medical Association issued a strong statement on Wednesday demanding that Iranian authorities provide immediate access to specialised medical care for Mohammadi, calling the denial of essential treatment “a flagrant violation of the right to health” and a breach of international human rights treaties that Iran has ratified. Analysts in London noted that the regime’s refusal to transfer a Nobel laureate to a major hospital, even as her condition deteriorates, reflects a pattern of punitive medical neglect that has been documented in cases involving other political prisoners. The United Nations and several European governments have also expressed alarm, though Tehran has so far offered no official comment on her condition.

The clock is now ticking for Mohammadi, whose brother Hamidreza, based in Oslo, has pleaded for his sister’s transfer, saying that doctors have warned she must remain out of prison for an extended period. Viewed from the perspective of Iran’s human rights community, the standoff is a test of whether international pressure can override the regime’s determination to punish even its most celebrated dissidents. If Mohammadi dies in custody, the consequences for Iran’s international standing — already damaged by months of internet blackouts and domestic repression — would be severe. Her survival may depend on whether diplomatic channels can secure an intervention before it is too late.