Nobel Peace Prize awarded to human rights defender Narges Mohammadi

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian human rights activist who, as the committee noted Friday morning, is in jail now.

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The Nobel Foundation noted her long fight against the oppression of women in Iran.

“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,” Berit Reiss-Andersen, the committee chair said in announcing the award.

Mohammadi is the fourth Nobel laureate to be chosen for the honor while behind bars, The New York Times reported.

Reiss-Andersen said that “if the Iranian authorities make the right decision, they will release her so she can be present to receive this honor, which is what we primarily hope for.”

“This year’s peace prize also recognizes the hundreds of thousands of people who, in the preceding year, have demonstrated against Iran’s theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women,” the committee said.

“The motto adopted by the demonstrators — ‘Woman – Life – Freedom’ — suitably expresses the dedication and work of Narges Mohammadi.”

Mohammadi has spent 30 years fighting for change in Iran, working to make a better society through education, advocacy and civil disobedience, the Times reported. She was first arrested in 2011 for assisting jailed activists and their families. She was released on bail and then began campaigning against Iran’s death penalty laws. She was re-arrested in 2015.

“Upon her return to prison, she began opposing the regime’s systematic use of torture and sexualized violence against political prisoners and especially women,” Reiss-Andersen said. She added that she hoped that awarding Mohammadi the prize would send a signal to the Iranian government to “listen to your own people.”

The awards, first handed out in 1901, were created by Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel in his 1895 will. He said he hoped to celebrate those who have “conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.”

A committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament chooses the winners. Past winners of the Nobel Peace Prize include Martin Luther King Jr., former President Jimmy Carter, Malala Yousafzai and Nelson Mandela.

The Peace Prize is the fifth Nobel prize awarded this week. The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter.”

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their work in the development of mRNA vaccines.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists “for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots,” and Jon Fosse won the Nobel in Literature on Thursday “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”

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