Narges Mohammadi earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his “fight against the oppression of women in Iran.”
Narges Mohammadi, an activist currently imprisoned in Iran, has been given the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday in Oslo.
The 51-year-old Mohammadi has been given a sentence of more than 30 years in prison and is not permitted to visit her husband or children. Since Mahsa Amini’s passing last year, widespread protests in Iran have become synonymous with her name and the fight for human rights. Amini was a 22-year-old lady who had been detained by the infamous morality police of the dictatorship.
The Nobel Committee noted in its announcement of Mohammadi’s win that it “recognises the hundreds of thousands of people who in the preceding year have demonstrated against the theocratic regimes’ policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women.”
Her valiant fight has cost her dearly personally. In total, the dictatorship has detained her 13 times, found her guilty five times, and sentenced her to 31 years in jail and 154 lashes, according to Norwegian Nobel Committee head Berit Reiss-Andersen.
It’s unclear if Mohammadi is aware of her victory. According to her friends and relatives, people held in Iran’s infamous Evin Prison aren’t permitted to accept calls on Thursdays and Fridays.
Mohammadi declared in the statement that she would remain in Iran to carry on with her advocacy “even if I spend the rest of my life in prison.”
“I will continue to fight against the relentless discrimination, tyranny, and gender-based oppression by the oppressive religious government until the liberation of women,” she stated, standing with the courageous moms of Iran.
Mohammadi’s husband Taghi Rahmani told CNN that the award is “for all the people of Iran.” Rahmani, a fellow activist who spent a total of 14 years in regime prisons, now resides in exile in France with their twin children.
“This award belongs to all of Iran’s citizens, not only Narges. In order to demonstrate that they would keep fighting for democracy and civic equality, Iranian men and women took to the streets, stood in one place for months, and engaged in a movement, according to Rahmani.
“Although the years of her absence can never be made up for for us, the honour of recognising Narges’ efforts for peace is a source of solace for our indescribable suffering,” Mohammadi’s family said in a separate statement to CNN.She hasn’t seen her kids in more than eight and a half years, and it has been over a year since she last heard their voices. All of this represents the struggles she overcame to achieve her goals. Therefore, today is a joyful day for us who know that the Nobel Peace Prize will help her achieve her aims, the family statement continued.
