Iranian activist: This is the woman who will receive the Nobel Prize

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Imprisoned women’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi (51) from Iran will receive the Nobel Peace Prize this year. She will receive the prestigious prize “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her struggle to promote human rights and freedom for all,” Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Berit Reiss-Andersen said at the announcement on Friday, Oslo said. .

Narges Mohammadi is one of the best-known human rights activists in Iran and has been imprisoned several times. She is currently serving a long prison sentence in the infamous Ewin Prison in Tehran. In late 2022, during the nationwide uprising against the Iranian power apparatus, Mohammadi published a report exposing the alleged torture of dozens of women in the high-security prison.

Since her student days, about 30 years ago, Mohammadi has consciously taken risks with her life, Reiss-Andersen said at the announcement. “Their courageous struggle involves enormous personal sacrifices.” She was arrested a total of thirteen times and convicted five times. The sentences totaled 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.

Broad agreement

The Norwegian made it clear that the Nobel Prize also recognized the entire movement that took to the Iranian streets under the slogan ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’. “This award is first and foremost a recognition of the very important work of an entire movement in Iran with its undisputed leader Narges Mohammadi,” said Reiss-Andersen.

Mohammadi’s selection received approval from the Stockholm Peace Research Institute Sipri. “Narges Mohammadi is an outstanding person, courageous to the point of heroism and has been a leading figure in the Iranian movement for human rights and gender equality for more than 25 years,” said Sipri director Dan Smith of the German news agency. There is no doubt that Mohammadi is an extraordinary personality.

Following the announcement, the United Nations called for the release of Mohammadi and all detained human rights defenders in Iran. “Women in Iran are an inspiration to the world,” said Liz Throssell, spokeswoman for the UN Office for Human Rights in Geneva.

Most important political prize on earth

Given the tense world situation with the war in Ukraine, the climate crisis and other crises and conflicts in different parts of the world, 259 personalities and 92 organizations were in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. The total number of 351 candidates was the second highest ever. Traditionally, the Nobel institutions keep secret who is among the nominees for fifty years.

The Nobel Peace Prize is considered the most important political prize in the world. Last year, imprisoned Belarusian human rights lawyer Ales Bialyazki and human rights organizations Memorial from Russia and the Center for Civil Liberties from Ukraine were honored. They were honored, among other things, for their commitment to civil society in their home country, the right to criticize power and the protection of the fundamental rights of citizens.

The Nobel Prizes go back to the will of the Swedish dynamite inventor and prize donor Alfred Nobel (1833-1896). The Nobel Peace Prize is the only Nobel Prize that is not awarded in the Swedish capital Stockholm, but in the Norwegian capital Oslo. The winners in the categories medicine, physics, chemistry and literature had already been announced in Stockholm from Monday to Thursday. At the end of this year’s prize announcements, the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences will follow on Monday.

This year, all prizes per category are worth eleven million Swedish kronor (approximately 950,000 euros), one million kronor more than in previous years. They are then traditionally presented on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death. It is still unclear whether Iranian leaders will allow Mohammadi to travel to Norway.

Source: Blick