Nobel Peace Prize 2023: 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. "She fights for women against systematic discrimination and oppression," said Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee who announced the prize in Oslo.
"After her release on bail, this year's peace laureate Mohammadi immersed herself in a campaign against use of the death penalty. Her activism against the death penalty led to her re-arrest in 2015, and to a sentence of additional years behind walls," the official social media handle of The Nobel Prize posted on X.
"She fights for freedom of expression and the right of independence, and against rules requiring women to remain out of sight and to cover their bodies. The freedom demands expressed by demonstrators apply not only to women but to the entire population," it added.
Mohammadi was released from prison on bail after two years. Once out, she again immersed herself in a campaign against the use of the death penalty in Iran. According to the release by the Nobel Committee, since January 2022, more than 860 prisoners have been punished by death in Iran.
However, her activism against the death penalty led to her re-arrest in 2015. She was sentenced to additional years behind walls. After her return to prison, Narges Mohammadi opposed the regime’s systematic use of torture and sexualised violence against political prisoners, especially women, that is practised in Iranian prisons, the Nobel Committee said.
In 2003 she became involved with the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran, an organisation founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. Mohammadi was arrested for the first time in 2011 and sentenced to many years of imprisonment for her efforts to assist incarcerated activists and their families.
A young physics student, Narges Mohammadi was already distinguishing herself as an advocate for equality and women’s rights during the 1990s. After finishing her studies, she began working as an engineer as well as a columnist in various reform-minded newspapers.