On October 6, 2023, the Nobel Peace Prize for 2023 was bestowed upon Narges Mohammadi by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. She was recognized for her unwavering commitment to combatting the oppression of women in Iran and her relentless advocacy for universal human rights and freedom.
Narges Mohammadi is a prominent human rights activist and a champion of freedom who currently finds herself incarcerated. Shockingly, she has been detained by the Iranian authorities on 13 occasions, subjected to five convictions, and handed a cumulative prison sentence of 31 years along with 154 lashes.
Her resolute campaign against the death penalty led to her re-arrest in 2015, resulting in additional years of incarceration. Furthermore, in May 2016, she was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Tehran for her involvement in establishing and leading a human rights movement dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty.
Mohammadi ardently supports women's quest for the right to lead meaningful and dignified lives. Unfortunately, this struggle has been met with relentless persecution, imprisonment, torture, and even loss of life across Iran. She champions freedom of expression, independence, and opposes the oppressive regulations that force women to conceal themselves and their bodies.
In the previous year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Ales Bialiatski, a human rights advocate imprisoned in Belarus, along with the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties. These laureates exemplify the strength of civil society within their respective nations.
This year, the prize money for the laureate has been increased to 11 million Swedish kronor, up from the previous 10 million SEK. Since the establishment of the Nobel Prizes in 1901, a total of 104 individuals have been honored, with 19 women receiving the Nobel Peace Prize to date.
Annually, six Nobel Prizes are conferred to acknowledge the contributions of exceptional individuals in the fields of Chemistry, Physics, Literature, Psychology or Medicine, Peace, and Economics.