Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Iran’s Narges Mohammadi for “Her Fight Against the Oppression of Women”

Iranian human rights advocate and freedom fighter Narges Mohammadi has won the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, organizers of the award said Friday.

The Norwegian Nobel committee that awards the prize lauded Mohammadi for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”

It highlighted: “Altogether, the 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 prize also “recognizes the hundreds of thousands of people who have demonstrated against the theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women,” the committee noted.

Iran has also been in focus for various Hollywood stars. For example, early this year, Cate Blanchett, Jason Momoa, Samuel L. Jackson, Jada Pinkett Smith and Bryan Cranston were among members of the entertainment industry publicly supporting calls to end Iran‘s execution of protestors, jailed during demonstrations around women’s rights.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Pope Francis, environmental activist Greta Thunberg, British nature broadcaster David Attenborough and the World Health Organization had been among favorites mentioned by bookmakers before this winner was announced.

The honor is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in 1895. The others are prizes in chemistry, physics, medicine and literature.

Past winners of the Nobel peace honor 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 award went to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties.

In 2021, the honor went to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition 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 World Food Program, the food assistance branch of the United Nations that is considered the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security, won the honor.

There were many candidates for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize. But as per usual, the Norwegian Nobel Committee did not reveal the names of nominators or nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. It does so only after 50 years have passed.