Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian women's rights advocate serving 12 years in jail, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a decision likely to anger Tehran's theocratic government. Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the 122-year-old prize and the first one since Maria Ressa of the Philippines won the award in 2021 jointly with Russia's Dmitry Muratov.
"This prize is first and foremost a recognition of the very important work of a whole movement in Iran, with its undisputed leader, Narges Mohammadi," said Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
The Nobel prize also came just over a year after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police for allegedly flouting the Islamic Republic's dress code for women, whih sparked months of protests across Iran against the government.
Authorities jailed Mohammadi in 2021 after she attended a memorial for a person killed in violent 2019 anti-government protests in Iran over rising gas prices. The award-making committee said the prize was testimony to all those behind recent unprecedented protests in Iran and called for the release of Mohammadi, who has campaigned for both women's rights and the abolition of the death penalty.
“The more of us they lock up, the stronger we become,” she once wrote from prison in an opinion piece for the New York Times.
The U.N. human rights office said the Nobel award highlighted the bravery of Iranian women. "We've seen their courage and determination in the face of reprisals, intimidation, violence and detention," said its spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell. "They've been harassed for what they do or don't wear. There are increasingly stringent legal, social and economic measures against them.They are an inspiration to the world."
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