Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has been awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Price for “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran”.
Ms Mohammadi is one of Iran’s leading human rights activists, and has campaigned for women’s rights and the abolition of the death penalty.
She is currently serving multiple sentences in Tehran’s Evin Prison amounting to about 12 years’ imprisonment, according to the Front Line Defenders rights organisation, one of the many periods she has been detained behind bars.
The charges against her include spreading propaganda against the state.
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,” the committee said in its citation.
She is the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), a non-governmental organisation led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
The Nobel Prize comes with a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.57 million), an 18-carat gold medal and an award ceremony in December.
She is the 19th woman to win the 122-year-old prize and the first since Maria Ressa of the Philippines was jointly awarded the prize with Russia’s Dmitry Muratov in 2021.
Reuters
