Nobel Peace Prize recipient Narges Mohammadi, an imprisoned Iranian human rights activist, has initiated a hunger strike one month after being honored with the award, as confirmed by her family.

The 51-year-old is using her hunger strike to protest Iran's refusal to provide medical treatment to her and fellow inmates, as well as the country's compulsory hijab law.

According to a statement, she urgently requires medical attention for heart and lung conditions, but a prosecutor is obstructing her transfer to a hospital. Her family revealed last week that this was due to her refusal to adhere to the hijab requirement.

The chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, responsible for awarding Ms. Mohammadi the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in combating the oppression of women in Iran, expressed deep concern. Berit Reiss-Andersen stated that the requirement for female inmates to wear a hijab in order to receive hospital treatment is both inhumane and morally unacceptable.

As of now, there has been no immediate response from Iran's judiciary or prison authorities. Ms. Mohammadi's family received information from Tehran's infamous Evin prison, informing them that she had initiated a hunger strike on Monday morning. Her protest is directed against two issues: "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," and "the policy of 'death' or 'mandatory hijab' for Iranian women."

A prosecutor had opposed Ms Mohammadi's transfer to hospital for treatment for a week, despite repeated appeals to prison officials and the judiciary, it said.

"According to the diagnosis and echocardiogram of a trusted doctor of the prison, she has needed emergency transfer to the heart and lung center for urgent medical care."

Last Wednesday, Ms Mohammadi's family said other female inmates at Evin had protested for two days and nights to put pressure on authorities to transfer her to hospital.

However, they added, "The prison warden announced that, according to the orders of the higher authorities, sending her to the heart hospital without a headscarf was prohibited".

Ms Mohammadi, the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran, is currently serving a 10-year prison term.

She has been arrested 13 times in total, convicted five times, and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison. She has also been sentenced to 154 lashes, although it is unclear whether that punishment has been carried out.

Under Iranian law, which is based on the country's interpretation of Sharia, women must cover their hair with a headscarf and wear long, loose-fitting clothing to disguise their figures.

In September 2022, mass protests erupted across Iran in response to the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was detained by morality police for allegedly wearing an "improper" hijab.

Women and girls have burnt their headscarves or waved them in the air at demonstrations against the clerical establishment. Many have even stopped covering their hair in public altogether.

In a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee published last Tuesday, Ms. Mohammadi described the compulsory hijab as "a means of control and repression imposed on the society and on which the continuation and survival of [Iran's] authoritarian religious regime depends".