Jailed Iranian Activist Wins 2023 Nobel Peace Prize

Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian women's rights advocate serving 12 years in jail, won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

The award-making committee urged Iran to release Mohammadi, one of the nation's leading activists who has campaigned for both women's rights and the abolition of the death penalty.

Hailing Mohammadi as a "freedom fighter", the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee started her speech by saying, in Farsi, the words for "woman, life, freedom" -- the main slogan of the current wave of protests against the Iranian government.

"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," Berit Reiss-Andersen said in the citation.

The award also recognised the hundreds of thousands of people who have demonstrated against Iranian discrimination and oppression of women, Reiss-Andersen said. "Only by embracing equal rights for all can the world achieve the fraternity between nations that (prize founder) Alfred Nobel sought to promote," she said.

"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 noted. "If the Iranian authorities make the right decision, they will release her so that she can be present to receive this honour (in December), which is what we primarily hope for."

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Friday the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Mohammadi highlighted the courage and determination of Iranian women.

"We've seen their courage and determination in the face of reprisals, intimidation, violence and detention," OHCHR spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell told reporters in Geneva.

"They've been harassed for what they do or don't wear. There are increasingly stringent legal, social and economic measures against them. This really is something that highlights the courage and determination of the women of Iran and how they are an inspiration to the world," Throssell added. "We and other partners of the UN human rights system have repeatedly called for her release."

Mohammadi was arrested on November 16, 2021, and one year after being released, was detained again. Currently, she is serving a total sentence of 9 years and 8 months, along with 154 lashes and additional penalties in Evin Prison. Charges include spreading propaganda against the state.

She has also been denied access to medical care amid deteriorating health. Mohammadi has been imprisoned several times over the past two decades for her work fighting for human rights.

She is the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a non-governmental organisation led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the 122-year-old prize and the first one since Maria Ressa of the Philippines won the award in 2021 jointly with Russia's Dmitry Muratov.

In her letter to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March, she said she is ready to testify against the authorities of the Islamic Republic regarding the torture, harassment and abuse of prisoners.