2023 Nobel Prize for Peace: Narges Mohammadi, an activist from Iran who is currently in jail, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her unwavering work for women’s rights, democracy, and against the death sentence.

Despite numerous arrests by Iranian authorities and years spent in jail, Mohammadi, who is 51 years old, has continued her activism.

“This Nobel Prize is first and foremost a recognition of the very important work of a whole movement in Iran, with Nargis Mohammadi as its undisputed leader,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, who gave the award in Oslo.

The Nobel Prize is meant to encourage people to keep working in any way that the movement thinks is best, she said. She also asked Iran to free Mohammadi so he could be at the Dec. 10 award event.

For almost all of Mohammadi’s life, Iran has been a Shiite theocracy under the control of its supreme leader. Women are capable of holding jobs, teaching, and even holding government appointments, but their lives are subject to strict control.

There are laws that say all women must cover their hair with a headscarf, or hijab, as a sign of respect. Iran and Afghanistan, which are close by, are still the only countries that require it.

Mohammadi told The New York Times that the “global support and recognition of my human rights advocacy makes me more resolved, more responsible, more passionate, and more hopeful.”

“I also hope that this recognition makes the protests for change in Iran stronger and better organized,” she said. “The victory is close.”

Jailed Iranian Narges Mohammadi wins 2023 Peace Nobel Prize

Reiss-Andersen says that Mohammadi has been jailed 13 times and found guilty five times. She has been given a total of 31 years in jail. Mohammadi’s most recent jail time began when she was arrested in 2021 after going to a memorial for a person who had been killed in national protests over higher gas prices.

She has been held at Tehran’s feared Evin Prison, which is home to both political prisoners and people with ties to the West. Women are still being abused physically and sexually in jails, which is something Mohammadi has fought against both inside and outside of prison.

Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She is also the second Iranian woman to win the award, following Shirin Ebadi in 2003, who was a human rights worker.

The peace prize has been given five times to people who are in jail or under house arrest in the 122-year history of the awards. Some of the winners from last year were Ales Bialiatski, who is the most well-known human rights activist in Belarus. He is still in jail.

Mohammadi was in jail during the recent protests over the death of Musa Amini, 22, while he was in police custody. A very strong challenge to Iran’s theocracy was made because of that. A heavy police presence led to the deaths of more than 500 people and the arrest of over 22,000 others.

She wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times while she was in jail.

She wrote, “The government might not realize that the more of us they lock up, the stronger we become.”

State TV and other media outlets run by the Iranian government did not respond right away. Some semiofficial news outlets mentioned Mohammadi’s victory in online messages by citing reports from other news outlets.

Mohammadi was vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran before he was jailed. His group was against the law. Mohammadi is friendly with Ebadi, who opened the school.

The Andrei Sakharov Prize was given to Mohammadi, an engineer, in 2018. This year, the group PEN America, which fights for free speech, gave Mohammadi the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. The group was happy for her win.

“The choice is a tribute to her courage and that of the many brave women and girls who have taken to the streets of Iran to face one of the world’s most brutal and stubborn regimes and risked their lives to demand their rights,” said Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America.

The Nobel Prizes come with a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor, which is about $1 million. People who win also get a diploma and an 18-karat gold medal at the December award events.

Last year’s prize was split by Bialiatski and human rights activists from both Russia and Ukraine. This was seen as a strong criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin after his invasion of Ukraine.

Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the United Nations are some other winners.

The other Nobel prizes are chosen and revealed in Stockholm. However, Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prizes, said that the peace prize should be chosen and given in Oslo by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee. The independent group is picked by the parliament of Norway.

The peace prize was the fifth award to be given out this year. The Nobel committee gave the literature prize to Norwegian writer Jon Fosse the day before. The chemistry prize was given on Wednesday to experts in the United States who study quantum dots. These dots can be used in electronics and medical imaging.

Scientists gave us our first look into the world of spinning electrons very quickly on Tuesday. They won the physics prize. A pair of scientists won the Nobel Prize in science on Monday for their work that made mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 possible.

The economics Nobel Prize, which is officially called the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, will be given out next week. This will be the last Nobel Prize ceremony.

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