Who is Narges Mohammadi, winner of Nobel Peace Prize 2023?

Nobel Peace Prize 2023 winner: The prestigious Nobel Peace Prize 2023 was awarded to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.

“Narges Mohammadi’s brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. The Iranian regime has 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 Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

Born in Zanjan, Mohammadi attended the Imam Khomeini International University, where she received a degree in Physics.

During her college years, Mohammadi distinguished herself as an advocate for equality and women’s rights. After concluding her studies, she worked as an engineer but also wrote columns for various reform-minded newspapers.

In 2003 she became involved with the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran, an organisation 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 activists and their families.

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

While in prison she opposed the regime’s systematic use of torture and sexual violence against political prisoners, particularly women.

Last year, after a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, was killed while in the custody of the Iranian morality police, she again took the lead and expressed support for the demonstrators and organised solidarity actions among her fellow inmates.

“The prison authorities responded by imposing even stricter conditions. Ms Mohammadi was prohibited from receiving calls and visitors. She nevertheless managed to smuggle out an article which the New York Times published on the one-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s killing,” the Nobel Committee said.

The committee also said that it wishes to honour Mohammadi's courageous fight for human rights, freedom, and democracy in Iran.

“This year’s Peace Prize also recognises the hundreds of thousands of people who, in the preceding year, have demonstrated against the theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women. Only by embracing equal rights for all can the world achieve the fraternity between nations that Alfred Nobel sought to promote,” it added.

Previous year winner

Last year, jailed Belarus rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian group Memorial and the Ukrainian organisation Center for Civil Liberties were awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Bialiatski was one of the initiators of the democratic movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s. He founded the organisation Viasna (Spring) in 1996. Viasna evolved into a broad-based human rights organisation that documented and protested against the authorities’ use of torture against political prisoners. Government authorities have repeatedly sought to silence Ales Bialiatski. He has been detained since 2020 without trial.

Human rights organisation Memorial was established in 1987 by human rights activists in the former Soviet Union who wanted to ensure that the victims of the communist regime’s oppression would never be forgotten. During the Chechen wars, Memorial gathered and verified information on abuses and war crimes perpetrated on the population by Russian and pro-Russian forces. In 2009, the head of Memorial’s branch in Chechnya, Natalia Estemirova, was killed because of this work.

The Center for Civil Liberties was founded for the purpose of advancing human rights and democracy in Ukraine. It has taken a stand to strengthen Ukrainian civil society and pressure the authorities to make Ukraine a full-fledged democracy.

About the Nobel Prizes

The Nobel Prizes are awarded in the memory of inventor Alfred Nobel, who in his will dictated that his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind."

In 1968, Sweden's central bank introduced the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

The Nobel laureates for these esteemed awards are unveiled in Stockholm throughout October, with the exception of the Peace Prize, which is determined by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.

The Nobel Peace Prize is the fifth award to be granted this week.

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