Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to jailed Iranian women’s right campaigner Narges Mohammadi

Jailed Iranian women’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for her activism against the Iranian government.

Mohammadi was honored “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.

By awarding the prize to Mohammadi, the committee hopes to send a message to the Iranian government to “listen to its own people,” Reiss-Anderson added.

Narges Mohammadi, a 49-year-old journalist, was sentenced to 80 lashes and 30 months in prison in 2021 after criticizing the death penalty and accusing prison officials of “torture and harassment.”

The prominent human rights activist was convicted after being found guilty of “propaganda against the system” of the Islamic republic for condemning Iran’s use of capital punishment.

Nobel Peace Prize Director Berit Reiss-Andersen announces the 2023 Peace Prize in Oslo, Friday, October 6, 2023.

The mother of two was also found guilty of “rebellion against prison authority” after accusing prison guards of torture.

Mohammadi, an anti-death penalty activist, was arrested in May 2015 when she was a spokesperson for the Center for Human Rights Defenders in Iran, founded by lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi.

While serving her first prison sentence, Mohammadi was transferred from Evin Prison in Tehran to a prison in Zanjan, northwest Iran, according to Reporters Without Borders.

The journalist had “filed a complaint against her immoral and illegal transfer,” her lawyer stated.

She also claimed that she was “beaten and harassed” in Evin prison, Etemad newspaper reports.

“Instead of examining his complaint, judicial officials opened another case against my client,” Mr. Behzadi-Rad said.