An Iranian female activist, Narges Mohammadi, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for her activism, has won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her campaign for women’s rights, democracy and against the death penalty in the country.
Despite various death threats and arrests by the oppressive Iranian government, the 51-year-old Mohammadi was announced the winner of the prize on Friday by Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.
“This prize is first and foremost a recognition of the very important work of a whole movement in Iran with with its undisputed leader, Nargis Mohammadi,” Reiss-Andersen said.
“The impact of the prize is not for the Nobel committee to decide upon. We hope that it is an encouragement to continue the work in whichever form this movement finds to be fitting,” Reiss-Andersen added.
Mohammadi was in 2021, arrested and jailed after she attended a memorial for a person killed in nationwide 2019 protests sparked by an increase in gasoline prices.
She is currently serving a seven-year jail term at Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, whose inmates include those with Western ties and political prisoners.
