Iranian human rights activist and freedom fighter Narges Mohammadi has won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, the award’s organizers announced on Friday.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prize, praised her for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”
It said: “In total, the regime arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.” Mohammadi is still in prison.
The award also recognizes “the hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrated against the theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression against women,” the committee noted.
Iran was also the focus of various Hollywood stars. Earlier this year, for example, Cate Blanchett, Jason Momoa, Samuel L. Jackson, Jada Pinkett Smith and Bryan Cranston were among members of the entertainment industry who publicly supported calls for an end to Iran’s execution of protesters during demonstrations surrounding women’s rights were imprisoned.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Pope Francis, environmental activist Greta Thunberg, British nature broadcaster David Attenborough and the World Health Organization were among the favorites named by bookmakers before this winner was announced.
The award is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by the will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. The others are prizes in chemistry, physics, medicine and literature.
Previous Nobel Peace Prize winners include Barack Obama, Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Malala Yousafzai, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mother Theresa, Aung San Suu Kyi, Elie Wiesel, the United Nations and the European Union.
Last year the prize went to human rights activist Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties.
In 2021, the award went to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov “for their commitment to upholding freedom of expression, which is a prerequisite for democracy and lasting peace.” They received the Peace Prize “for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia.” In 2020, the award was presented to the World Food Program, the food assistance arm of the United Nations, considered the world’s largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger and promoting food security.
There were many candidates for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize. But as usual, the Norwegian Nobel Committee did not announce the names of the nominators or nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. This only happens after 50 years.
