Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins Nobel Peace Prize

Iran's jailed women's rights advocate Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a rebuke to Tehran's theocratic leaders and boost for anti-government protesters.

The awards committee said the prize honoured all those behind recent unprecedented demonstrations in Iran and called for the release of Mohammadi, 51, who has campaigned for women's rights and the abolition of the death penalty.

“This prize is first and foremost a recognition of the very important work of a whole movement in Iran, with its undisputed leader Narges Mohammadi,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

“If the Iranian authorities make the right decision, they will release her so she can be present to receive this honour, which is what we primarily hope for.”

There was no immediate official reaction from Tehran, which calls the protests Western-led subversion.

Semi-official news agency Fars said Mohammadi had “received her prize from the Westerners” after making headlines “due to her acts against the national security”.

Mohammadi is serving sentences in Tehran's Evin Prison amounting to about 12 years' imprisonment, according to the Front Line Defenders rights organisation, one of the many times she has been detained behind bars.

Charges include spreading propaganda against the state.

She is the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a non-governmental organisation led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the 122-year-old prize and the first since Maria Ressa of the Philippines won the award in 2021 jointly with Russia's Dmitry Muratov.

“This Nobel Prize will embolden Narges' fight for human rights, but more importantly, this is a prize for the 'women, life and freedom' movement,” Mohammadi's husband Taghi Rahmani told Reuters at his home in Paris.

“This prize is for all the people of Iran, for human rights activists,” he said.

“Narges and people like her have chosen this kind of life and, if they are supported, their motivation will increase to pursue their goals.”

The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 11 million Swedish crowns (about R19.3m), will be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.

Past winners range from Martin Luther King to Nelson Mandela.

Reiss-Andersen started her speech by saying, in Farsi, the words for “woman, life, freedom”, which is the protest slogan, and saying the award recognised the hundreds of thousands who have opposed discrimination and oppression of women in Iran.

The award came as rights groups said an Iranian teenage girl was hospitalised in a coma after a confrontation on the Tehran metro for not wearing a hijab.

Iranian authorities denied the reports.

Mohammadi's win also came just over a year after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police for allegedly flouting the Islamic Republic's dress code for women.

That provoked nationwide protests, the biggest challenge to Iran's government in years, and was met with a deadly crackdown.

Among a stream of tributes from major global bodies, the UN human rights office said the Nobel award highlighted the bravery of Iranian women.

“We've seen their courage and determination in the face of reprisals, intimidation, violence and detention,” said its spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell .

“They've been harassed for what they do or don't wear. There are increasingly stringent legal, social and economic measures against them. They are an inspiration to the world.”

Mohammadi's brother said the prize was overwhelming and he hoped it would make Iranian campaigners safer.

“The situation there is very dangerous. Activists there can lose their lives,” Hamidreza Mohammed told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

Dan Smith, head of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute think tank, said while the prize could help ease pressure on Iranian dissidents, it was unlikely it would lead to her release.