Jailed Iranian Activist Narges Mohammadi Wins 2023 Nobel Peace Prize

Eko Hot Blog reports that the Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.

Mohammadi is incarcerated inside the notorious Evin Prison, in the Iranian capital Tehran, but that hasn’t stopped her fight.

In an audio recording from inside Evin, shared with CNN before Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, she is heard leading the chants of “woman, life, freedom” – the slogan of the uprising sparked last year by the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police.

The women are heard singing a Farsi rendition of “Bella Ciao,” the 19th-century Italian folk song that became a resistance anthem against Fascists and has been adopted by Iran’s freedom movement.

“This period was and still is the era of greatest protest in this prison,” Mohammadi told CNN in written responses to questions submitted through intermediaries.

Outside the prison walls, a brutal crackdown on protest by Iranian authorities largely quelled the movement sparked by Amini’s death and the morality police resumed their headscarf patrols in July.

Iranian activists this week accused them of assaulting a teenage girl, Armita Geravand, for not wearing a headscarf in a Tehran metro station, leading to her hospitalization with serious injuries. Iranian authorities said low blood pressure was the cause.

Mohammadi, in comments received by CNN, said the government’s behavior had once again “raised our concerns” and was “indicative of its concerted efforts to prevent the truth from coming to light regarding Armita Geravand.”

The Nobel peace prize winner is an activist who has spent her life campaigning for human rights in Iran.

Mohammadi has been a prisoner for most of the past two decades. She has been sentenced repeatedly for her unrelenting campaign against the death penalty and solitary confinement – which she has had to endure for weeks at a time.

She is currently serving a sentence of 10 years and 9 months, accused of actions against national security and propaganda against the state.

The activist was also sentenced to 154 lashes, a punishment rights groups believe has not so far been inflicted, and travel and other bans.

The prize was awarded for the 104th time today, with Mohammadi joining 140 previous laureates.

Meanwhile, Berit Reiss-Andersen, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, has called on Iranian authorities to release her and make her available for the ceremony to accept the prize in December.

Reiss-Andersen said “if the Iranian authorities make the right decision they will release her” from jail so she can attend the ceremony.