Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi goes on a hunger strike while imprisoned in Iran

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi began a hunger strike to protest Iran's mandatory headscarves for women and lack of medical care for inmates. Activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, arrested at a funeral for a teen who died without a hijab, also needs medical care.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi began a hunger strike Monday over being blocked together with other inmates from getting medical care and to protest the country's mandatory headscarves for women, a campaign advocating for the activist said.

The decision by Mohammadi, 51, increases pressure on Iran's theocracy over her incarceration, a month after being awarded the Nobel for her years of activism despite a decadeslong campaign by the government targeting her.

Meanwhile, another incarcerated activist, the lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, reportedly needs medical care she has yet to receive. She was arrested while attending a funeral for a teenage girl who died under disputed circumstances in Tehran's Metro while not wearing a hijab.

The Free Narges Mohammadi campaign said she sent a message from Evin Prison and "informed her family that she started a hunger strike several hours ago.” It said Mohammadi and her lawyer for weeks have sought her transfer to a specialist hospital for heart and lung care.

It did not elaborate on what conditions Mohammadi suffered from, though it described her as receiving an echocardiogram of her heart.

“Narges went on a hunger strike today ... protesting two things: The Islamic Republic’s policy of delaying and neglecting medical care for sick inmates, resulting in the loss of the health and lives of individuals. The policy of ‘death’ or ‘mandatory hijab’ for Iranian women,” the statement read.

It added that the Islamic Republic “is responsible for anything that happens to our beloved Narges.”