In 1940, during the reign of Reza Shah, Mossadegh was arrested and his home ransacked. He was bound by rope, dragged to jail and later transferred to the infamous prison in Birjand. His youngest child Khadijeh, then 13 years old, became distraught after learning about the cruel treatment of her father to whom she had tremendous attachment. This incident in addition to her fear of losing him made her so depressed that she succumbed to a "trance" from which she did not recover. Khadijeh received treatment in Tehran including a neurological procedure which resulted in her being left to live in a vegetative state. In 1942 she was sent to Switzerland where she stayed in various psychiatric hospitals. 

Mossadegh considered his daughter's fate the cruelest punishment that man or Shah could have ever inflicted on him.   

Khadijeh remained hospitalized until her death in 2002.