Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has his honor with the Nobel Prize of Peace “celebrated” with other inmates in his prison cell in Tehran. “Narges found out yesterday afternoon that she would receive the Nobel Peace Prize,” Mohammadi’s family said on Saturday. She received corresponding messages from the men’s ward, where there was easier access to phones.
“Narges and his fellow prisoners burst into applause and celebrated this victory in their cells,” he continued. On Friday night, Iranian state television announced the news at 10:30 pm “with an insulting and defamatory portrayal of Narges,” the family said.
Imprisoned since 2021
Mohammadi, 51, plays a central role in the fight for women’s rights and freedom of expression in her country. She campaigns against the mandatory wearing of headscarves and the death penalty in Iran. She has been arrested repeatedly since 1998 for this. She has been imprisoned since November 2021 for “propaganda against the State”.
Mohammadi will be honored for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and for her fight for human rights and freedom for all”, said the president of the Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, on Friday. Politicians and organizations around the world praised the 51-year-old’s courage.
The Iranian government harshly criticized the award given to the women’s rights activist. The awarding of the Nobel Prize to the imprisoned Mohammadi was “a biased and political act”, said the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanani, in Tehran. Mohammadi is “a person convicted of repeated violations of the law and criminal acts.”
Mohammadi is the second Iranian woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2003, exactly 20 years ago, human rights activist Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote democracy and human rights. Mohammadi is vice president of the Center for the Defense of Human Rights, founded by Ebadi.