LAST UPDATE | 6 Oct 2023
THE NOBEL PEACE Prize for 2023 has been awarded this morning 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 laureate was announced at 11am (10am Irish time) at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway.
2023 #NobelPeacePrize laureate 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. pic.twitter.com/ooDEZAVX01
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2023
Announcing the winner, Berit Reiss-Andersen, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo, said Mohammadi was awarded for her “fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”.
Mohammadi has spent much of the past two decades in and out of jail for her campaign against the mandatory hijab for women and the death penalty.
She is the vice-president of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre founded by Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, herself a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2003.
“Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs,” Reiss-Andersen said.
“Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. Ms Mohammadi is still in prison as I speak.”
In September 2022, 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Jina Amini Iranian Kurd, died a few days after her arrest by religious police for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women in force since shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Her family says she died from a blow to the head but this is disputed by Iranian authorities.
Anger over her death rapidly expanded into weeks of taboo-breaking protests which saw women tearing off their mandatory headscarves in an open challenge to the Islamic republic’s system of government under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Under the slogan ‘Woman – Life – Freedom’, hundreds of thousands of Iranians took part in peaceful protests against the authorities’ brutality and oppression of women,” Reiss-Andersen said.
“The regime cracked down hard on the protests: more than 500 demonstrators were killed. Thousands were injured, including many who were blinded by rubber bullets fired by the police. At least 20,000 people were arrested and held in regime custody,” she said.
The motto adopted by the demonstrators – ‘Woman – Life – Freedom’ – suitably expresses the dedication and work of Narges Mohammadi.
She explained: “Woman. She fights for women against systematic discrimination and oppression.
“Life. She supports women’s struggle for the right to live full and dignified lives. This struggle across Iran has been met with persecution, imprisonment, torture and even death.
“Freedom. 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.”
Iran meanwhile has denounced the “biased and political” action by the Nobel committee for awarding Mohammadi the Peace Prize.
“We note that the Nobel Peace Committee awarded the Peace Prize to a person who was convicted of repeated violations of laws and criminal acts,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement.
“We condemn this biased and political move.”
The prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a prize sum of 11 million Swedish kronor (€948,024).
The award will be presented at a formal ceremony in Oslo on 10 December, the anniversary of the 1896 death of the prizes’ creator, Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel.
As is the case every year, speculation had hit fever pitch in the run-up to the announcement, but the gloomy state of the world – the war in Ukraine well into its second year, US-China tensions flaring and a slew of coups in Africa – had made it harder than ever to predict the winner.
All that had been known prior to today’s announcement was that 351 individuals and organisations had been nominated this year.
Last year, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, the prize went to a symbolic trio opposed to the war – Russian human rights group Memorial, Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties and jailed Belarusian rights advocate Ales Bialiatski.
The Nobel season winds up Monday with the Nobel economics prize.
Includes reporting by -© AFP 2023
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