Narges Mohammadi, Jailed Iranian Activist, Wins 2023 Nobel Peace Prize

Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, sits in front of a banner with a dove carrying an olive branch, an international symbol for peace. Credit Flickr.

By Valli Pendyala

Narges Mohammadi, a jailed Iranian activist, journalist and scientist, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 6 for her work in the Iranian civil rights and women’s rights movements.

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the six Nobel Prizes and is awarded for exceptional work in four areas: arms control and disarmament, peace negotiation, democracy and human rights, limiting the effects of climate change and creating a better organized and more peaceful world.

This year’s winner Narges Mohammadi was born in 1972 in Zanjan, Iran and studied physics at Qazvin International University. There, she founded a student-run political organization and wrote in support of students’ and women’s rights, leading to her first arrest.

Following her graduation, Mohammadi wrote for many reformist newspapers and became involved with Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran, which was founded by Shirin Ebadi, a previous Nobel Peace Prize winner. In 2011, she was arrested for her work surrounding incarcerated activists and their families. Following her release, she began to work on an anti-death penalty campaign, which led to a third arrest in 2015. While in prison, she began campaigning to end the use of sexual violence and torture in prisons, especially for female political prisoners. 

Following Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022, Mohammadi again began to advocate for reform of the Iranian regime and organized various prisoner protests in solidarity, all from her jail cell..

Mohammadi is currently serving a 12 year sentence in Evin Prison in Tehran for a number of charges, including spreading propaganda against the state and working against national security. 

Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said of Mohammadi on her firm dedication, “Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. 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.”

In response to the announcement, Iran denounced what they called a “biased and political” decision to give Mohammadi the award. 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani, stated that the award was given to a “person who was convicted of repeated violations of laws and criminal acts” and called this year’s award a “disappointing deviation from [the Nobel Prize’s] initial objectives.”

The conditions in prison have greatly deteriorated Mohammadi’s health. Nonetheless, she remains strong in her beliefs. 

In 2022 she published “White Torture,” a book featuring 12 interviews with other female prisoners on the psychological torture, sensory deprivation and isolation they faced in prison. 

In an unauthorized interview with the New York Times, Mohammadi said, “I sit in front of the window every day, stare at the greenery and dream of a free Iran. The more they punish me, the more they take away from me, the more determined I become to fight until we achieve democracy and freedom and nothing less.” 

As the Iranian Pro-Democracy Movement continues, her dream draws ever closer to fruition.