The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday, October 6, in Oslo to Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, who has been imprisoned in Tehran for a year.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Five Iranian women write from their prison: “We are guilty of the desire to live”
The 51-year-old activist and journalist will be rewarded “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,” said the President of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen.
“This truly underlines the courage and determination of the women of Iran, who are an inspiration to the whole world,” said spokeswoman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Elizabeth Throssell in Geneva, adding: “We have seen their courage and determination in the face of reprisals, intimidation, violence and imprisonment. »
The United Nations then called for the release of Narges Mohammadi and “all human rights defenders imprisoned in Iran.”
The journalist was sentenced to 16 years in prison in May 2016 for her human rights work and was extended in August. She is vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, which is led by Nobel Peace Prize-winning lawyer Shirin Ebadi.
protest movement
Narges Mohammadi is being rewarded as Iran was swept by a major protest movement last year, sparked by the death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, after she was arrested in Tehran for failing to comply with the strict code of Islamic dress.
Also read: Article reserved for our subscribers In Iran, human rights activist Narges Mohammadi denounces sexual abuse in prison
Narges Mohammadi and three fellow inmates burned their veils in the courtyard of Tehran’s Evin Prison on September 16 to mark the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death. In the World Economic Forum (WEF) gender equality ranking, Iran ranks 143rd out of 146 countries.
The “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising – a slogan with which the president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee began her announcement on Friday – was violently suppressed: 551 demonstrators, including 68 children and 49 women, were killed, according to security forces, according to the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) sent and thousands of others arrested.
Even if the protest is now more diffuse, it continues in different forms and presents the Iranian authorities with one of the greatest challenges since the revolution of 1979. Scenes that were unimaginable a year ago are now showing up in public places despite women the risks involved. In September, Iran’s predominantly conservative parliament tightened sanctions against women who refuse to wear a veil.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers In Iran, a year after the death of Mahsa Amini, an inconspicuous popular resistance trying to live a “life without compromise”.
“Inmate of the opinion”
” The price [Nobel] “This year’s peace campaign also recognizes the hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrated last year against theocratic regimes’ policies of discrimination and oppression against women,” Ms. Reiss said. Andersen.
The world application
The morning of the world
Every morning, discover our selection of 20 items not to be missed
Download the app
Narges Mohammadi was arrested again in 2021 and has not seen her children, who live with her husband in France, for eight years. Amnesty International considers her a “prisoner of conscience” and said in its correspondence with Agence France-Presse that she has “almost no prospect of freedom.”
The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize represents “a historic and important moment for the struggle for freedom in Iran,” his family reacted in a written statement on Friday. “We dedicate this award to all Iranians and especially to Iranian women and girls who have inspired the whole world with their courage and fight for freedom and equality,” she added.