Narges Mohammadi wins Nobel Peace Prize for 2023

Narges Mohammadi – the Iranian rights campaigner – was announced as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2023 today (Friday, October 6) at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo.

According to the media reports, the committee said in its citation that 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.

One of Iran’s most prominent human rights advocates, Mohammadi has worked to abolish the death sentence and advance the rights of women. The president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, began her statement by referring to Mohammadi as a “freedom fighter” and repeating in Farsi the words “woman, life, freedom,” which were chanted during the peaceful protests against the Iranian government. “For her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,” she claimed, Mohammadi was recognized.

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“Freedom. [Mohammadi] fights for freedom of expression and the right to independence and against rules requiring women to remain out of sight and cover up their bodies,” she added.

She has spent several years behind bars and is currently completing a number of sentences totaling almost 12 years in Tehran’s Evin Prison, claims the human rights organization Front Line Defenders. One of the accusations is propagandizing against the state. She serves as the assistant director of Shirin Ebadi’s non-governmental Defenders of Human Rights Center, which won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.

Mohammadi is the first woman to receive the medal since Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia shared it in 2021. She is the 19th woman to receive the 122-year-old honor. According to Al Jazeera, more than 350 individuals and organizations were nominated for the coveted award granted for the “promotion of peace.” This year, 259 people and 92 organizations were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, breaking the previous record of 351 nominees. For the eighth year running, there are more than 300 nominations.

On December 10, the anniversary of the Swedish businessman Alfred Nobel’s passing who established the prize in his 1895 will, the Nobel Peace Prize, valued 11 million Swedish crowns, or approximately $1 million, will be given in Oslo.