Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins Nobel Peace Prize
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Narges Mohammadi. Photo: Reihane Taravati/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
Jailed Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her fight against women's oppression and her championing of human rights.
The big picture: 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," including those who participated in massive protests against the death of Mahsa Amini in Iranian police custody last year, the committee said.
- Mohammadi, 51, "has helped to ensure that the protests [in Iran] have not ebbed out," the Nobel Prize committee said.
- The protesters' rallying cry of "woman, life, freedom" is an "illustration of what Narges Mohammadi has been working for over three decades," Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in an interview published Friday.
What they're saying: Mohammadi's activism has come with "tremendous personal costs," the committee said. She has been arrested 13 times and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison.
- Mohammadi, 51, is currently serving multiple sentences in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, according to Reuters.
- "The global support and recognition of my human rights advocacy makes me more resolved, more responsible, more passionate and more hopeful," Mohammadi said in a statement to The New York Times.
- "I also hope this recognition makes Iranians protesting for change stronger and more organized. Victory is near," she added.
Zoom out: Prior to her imprisonment, Mohammadi worked as an engineer and with the banned Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran.
- She is the 19th woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. There were 351 candidates for the Peace Prize this year, per the Nobel committee.
- Iranian authorities have not released an official reaction to the news.
Go deeper: "No going back": Gen Z at the forefront of protests in Iran
