As a highlight of Nobel Prize Week, the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize was announced today: imprisoned human rights activist Narges Mohammadi is being honored for her fight for women’s rights in Iran.
The Nobel Committee has awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize. It goes to Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, who campaigns against the oppression of women in her country and is currently in prison.
Mohammadi, one of Iran’s leading human rights activists, advocates for women’s rights and the abolition of the death penalty. “The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award Narges Mohammadi the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight against the oppression of women and her commitment to human rights and freedom for all,” said the president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen. , explaining the decision. She described Mohammadi as a “freedom fighter” and began her speech with the words: “Woman, life, freedom” – the slogan under which people in Iran have been taking to the streets for a year.
Mohammadi has been arrested several times. The 51-year-old is currently serving a long prison sentence in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. At the end of 2022, during the national uprising against Iran’s power apparatus, Mohammadi brought to light a report that revealed the alleged torture of dozens of women in the maximum security prison.
“Woman, life, freedom”: Berit Reiss-Andersen announces this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner. APA/AFP/Terje Pedersen
The nominees are under lock and key for 50 years
The prize, worth eleven million Swedish kronor (around 950 thousand euros), will be awarded in Oslo on December 10th, the anniversary of the death of founder Alfred Nobel. This year, 351 candidates competed for the most important political award in the world, including 259 people and 92 organizations. Whoever was among those nominees is traditionally kept secret by the Nobel institutions for 50 years, even after the announcement.
The Nobel Peace Prize is considered the most important political award in the world. Since it was first awarded in 1901, more than 140 people and organizations have received it. Last year, imprisoned Belarusian human rights lawyer Ales Bialyazki and the human rights organizations Russia Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties were honored. They were honored, among other things, for their commitment to civil societies in their countries of origin, for the right to criticize power and for the protection of citizens’ basic rights.
The Nobel Prize week ends with the presentation of the prestigious prize. The winners in the medicine, physics, chemistry and literature categories had already been announced in Stockholm, from Monday to Thursday. At the end of this year’s award announcements, the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences will follow on Monday. This time, all prizes are worth eleven million crowns (around 950 thousand euros) per category. (ag./red.)