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DUBAI – The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to Narges Mohammadi, a jailed Iranian human rights activist. She is the fifth person to receive the award while incarcerated.
Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the prize was awarded “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”
The award shines an international spotlight on the fight for women’s rights in the Middle Eastern country, where this year women took to the streets under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” after a teenage woman died in custody.
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“Their courageous fight came at enormous personal cost,” Reiss-Andersen said. “In total, the regime arrested them 13 times, convicted them five times, and sentenced them to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. Ms. Mohammadi is still in prison.”
“By awarding this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee would like to honor her courageous fight for human rights, freedom and democracy in Iran,” said Reiss-Andersen, describing Mohammadi as a “freedom fighter.”
Iran has not yet officially responded to the award, but after earlier criticism from European and American officials over the country’s treatment of women, a State Department spokesman said Wet Canaani on Thursday cracked down on “interventionist and biased statements and expressions of disingenuous concern about Iranian women and girls.”
In the 1990s, Mohammadi studied physics before working as an engineer, advocating for equality and women’s rights, and campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty. She was arrested for the first time in 2011 for speaking out in support of imprisoned activists and their families.
The 51-year-old is accused of “spreading propaganda”. She is now serving ten years in Tehran’s notorious Elvin Prison, where she has campaigned against the conditions in which she and her fellow female inmates are held, particularly the use of torture and solitary confinement.
Last year, Mohammadi published the book “White Torture” about Iran’s use of solitary confinement and sensory deprivation against her and her fellow prisoners.
“The goal of white torture is to permanently sever the connection between a person’s body and mind in order to force the person to recant their ethics and actions,” she wrote.
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Mohammadi wrote the book’s foreword during a short medical leave last year. She concluded the section with a promise: “They will put me back behind bars, but I will not stop campaigning until human rights and justice prevail in my country.”
And this year, on the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the young woman who was arrested for a dress code violation and died in the custody of Iran’s morality police, Mohammadi protested in Elvin Prison. According to a post on her social media page, she and three other women burned their headscarves.
Mohammadi’s determination to continue working despite her imprisonment “carries a strong message,” said a fellow Iranian activist and former colleague who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“Narges Mohammadi is one of the very few who has not only stayed in Iran, but also remains active, whether she is out or in prison,” she said. Her example is an inspiration within the activist community and among young people who continue to face attempts by the country’s leadership to suppress dissent.
Iran is carrying out waves of arrests against activists, journalists and intellectuals to stamp out dissent and tighten social restrictions. After protests erupted following Amini’s death last year, Iranian authorities arrested about 20,000 people.
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Mohammadi has previously been honored by Reporters Without Borders, the PEN America Literary Gala and the United Nations World Press Freedom Prize for her work defending human rights and her commitment to threatened journalism.
Mohammadi and two other U.N.-recognized Iranian journalists “paid a heavy price for their commitment to reporting and conveying the truth,” said Zainab Salbi, chairman of the international jury of media professionals that chose the press freedom award winners.
“We are committed to honoring them and ensuring that their voices continue to resonate around the world until they are safe and free,” Salbi said.
Previous imprisoned people to receive the award include German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky in 1935, Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991, Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo in 2010 and last year’s winner Ales Bialiatski.
The Peace Prize is probably the most famous of the prizes awarded by Alfred Nobel in his 1895 will. It includes a gold medal and an award of over $1 million to an individual or organization that contributes most to “brotherhood among nations” by reducing standing armies or holding peace conferences. The definition has now been expanded to include humanitarian work and the fight for human rights.
While it was once politicians and executives who won the prestigious award, in recent years it has increasingly gone to organizations and individuals committed to human rights and humanitarian work. Amid war in Europe, last year the prize went to human rights activists and organizations in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, while in 2021 it was given to Russian and Filipino journalists for promoting freedom of expression.
The last political leader to receive the award, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2019 for peace efforts with neighboring Eritrea, came under criticism after a brutal civil war broke out in the African country’s north.
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As the only prize awarded by Swedish institutions, the Peace Prize is awarded by a five-member Norwegian committee selected by the Norwegian Parliament in accordance with Nobel’s wishes.
The possible political motives of the award are always closely scrutinized to see what message the committee is sending to the world. According to the organization, there were 351 candidates for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize – the second highest number of candidates ever.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded 103 times between 1901 and 2022. Other famous Peace Prize winners include girls’ education advocate Malala Yousafzai, civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. and Catholic humanitarian Mother Teresa.
Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, whose research laid the foundation for messenger RNA vaccines, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine on October 2nd. (Video: Portal)
Earlier this week, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded Monday to two scientists whose research laid the foundation for messenger RNA vaccines that transformed the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, three scientists who explored the fuzzy realm of the electron were awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded Wednesday to three scientists for their fundamental discoveries in nanotechnology – particles once thought to be unimaginably small that found applications in television screens and LED lamps. On Thursday, Norwegian writer and playwright Jon Fosse received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Schemm and Suliman reported from London.