Jailed Iranian Woman Activist, Narges Mohammadi, Wins 2023 Nobel Peace Prize

The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday announced jailed Iranian activist, Ms. Narges Mohammadi, as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2023.

Ms. Mohammadi is deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, reports Persecondnews.

The 51-year-old activist had been arrested 13 times, convicted five times and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison, and had been subjected to 154 lashes.

The Nobel Committee Chair, Berit Reiss-Anderson, noted that Mihammadi’s struggle has come with “tremendous personal cost.”

Her campaigns and struggles gained global recognition in September 2022, after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in custody of the morality police sparked nationwide protests.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators used the slogan woman, life, freedom to organize the biggest threat against the Iranian regime since it came to power in 1979.

The announcement was made in a press release that reads in part, “the Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2023 to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.

“Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs.”

Persecondnews gathered that Mohammadi, started advocating for women’s rights while studying Physics in the 1990s, later working as an engineer and writing for reform-minded newspapers.

In 2003, she became involved with the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran, an organization founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.

In 2011, Ms Mohammadi was arrested for the first time and sentenced to many years of imprisonment for her efforts to assist incarcerated activist and their families.

After securing bail in 2013, Mohammadi, immersed herself in a campaign against the use of death penalty, she was again arrested in 2015 and was yet again sentenced to additional years behind bars.

Last year, she was included in the BBC’s 100 Women – a high-profile list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.