OSLO: The children of imprisoned Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi said Monday they were “extremely worried” about her health after she undertook a hunger strike in a Tehran prison. Mohammadi, who has campaigned against the compulsory wearing of the hijab and the death penalty in Iran, stopped eating on Sunday in parallel with Sunday’s Nobel prize ceremony in Oslo, where she was represented by her 17-year-old twins, Ali and Kiana.

It is not known whether her hunger strike is continuing or if it was just for the day. “As her children, we are of course extremely worried,” Ali said on Monday at a press conference that followed a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

“Maybe she is in hospital right now,” his sister Kiana added. Mohammadi suffers from heart and lung conditions. The twins have not seen their mother since leaving Iran to live in exile in France in 2015, and have not been able to speak to her for around 21 months.

Arrested 13 times, sentenced five times to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes, Mohammadi has spent much of the past two decades in and out of jail. The 51-year-old has been held at Tehran’s Evin prison since 2021.

Her most recent hunger strike was “in solidarity” with Iran’s largest religious minority, the Baha’i, which is the target of discrimination in many areas of society, according to its representatives. “She did it to show her support, even though she is not here in Norway with us, that she is aware of the situation and that she will always do everything she can for women’s rights and democracy in Iran,” Kiana added on Monday.

Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel prize in October “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”. She is one of the women spearheading the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising, which included 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.

In early November, Mohammadi went on a hunger strike that lasted several days to obtain the right to receive medical treatment without wearing the hijab. — AFP