An Iranian women’s rights activist, Narges Mohammadi, has won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced 51-year-old activist as the winner on Friday.
Mohammadi is currently serving a long sentence in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. She has been imprisoned several times.
Mohammadi is following the footsteps of imprisoned Belarusian human rights lawyer, Ales Bjaljazki, who won the Prize last year.
At the prize announcement in Oslo, committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said she was awarded the prestigious prize “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”
In late 2022, during the nationwide uprising against Iran’s power apparatus, Mohammadi brought to light a report that revealed alleged torture of dozens of women in the maximum security prison.
“This prize is first and foremost a recognition of the very important work of a whole movement in Iran with its undisputed leader Narges Mohammadi,” Reiss-Andersen said at a news conference following the announcement.
Asked by reporters about the potential impact of the prize on its winner, Reiss-Andersen said: “The impact of the prize is not for the Nobel Committee to decide upon.
“We hope that it is an encouragement to continue the work in whichever form this movement finds to be fitting.”
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Asked whether Mohammadi would be allowed to leave the Evin prison to accept the award when it is formally presented in December, Reiss-Andersen said she hoped this would be the case.
“If the Iranian authorities make the right decision, they will release her so she can be present to receive this honour, which is what we primarily hope for.”
“Narges Mohammadi’s brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. The Iranian regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. Mohammadi is still in prison,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
Mohammadi attended the Imam Khomeini International University, where she graduated with a degree in Physics.
As an undergraduate, she distinguished herself as an advocate for equality and women’s rights. After concluding her studies, she worked as an engineer but also wrote columns for various reform-minded newspapers.
In 2003 she became involved with the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran, an organisation founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.
She was first arrested in 2011 and sentenced to many years of imprisonment for her efforts to assist incarcerated activists and their families.
After securing a bail in 2013, Mohammadi immersed herself in a campaign against the use of the death penalty. She was again arrested in 2015 and was sentenced to additional years behind walls.
Some 259 personalities and 92 organisations were in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize this year.
The total number of 351 candidates was the second highest ever.
The nominees are traditionally kept secret.
The Nobel Peace Prize is considered the world’s most important political prize.
Since it was first awarded in 1901, more than 140 individuals and organisations have now received it.
Last year, the imprisoned Belarusian human rights lawyer Ales Bjaljazki and the human rights organisations Memorial from Russia and the Center for Civil Liberties from Ukraine were awarded the prize.
Swedish dynamite inventor and prize donor Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) stated in his will his desire to create the prize.
The Peace Prize is the only one that is not awarded in the Swedish capital Stockholm, but in the Norwegian capital Oslo.
Prize winners in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry and literature were announced earlier this week in Stockholm.
The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Monday to conclude this year’s prize announcements.
All awards this year are endowed with 11 million Swedish kronor (nearly $1 million) per category, 1 million kronor more than in previous years.
They are traditionally presented on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.
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