51-year-old Narges Mohammadi, who is lodged in an Iranian prison, is a standing epitome that no incarceration would suppress the voice and fight for justice. She is perhaps the first person to get bestowed with a prestigious award while being confined behind the bars in recent times. What's more unfortunate is, we aren't sure whether she would be freed to receive the award in December. She is also a living example of how an authoritarian regime could stifle the voice for rights and freedom. 

Narges Mohammadi is a human rights activist, fighting for women's rights and freedom in a land where wearing an uneven headscarf would kill a woman. She fights against the oppression of women under the hegemonic reign and she fights for human rights and freedom in a land that advocates for the opposite. She still fights for a noble cause of equal rights while being inside a notorious prison. The latest global honour not only recognises her fight but also gives more power to it, certainly. 

Amidst a life full of perils and plights, Narges Mohammadi has on Friday added another feather in her cap - she has been awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. In the citation, the committee has etched staunch words that give a short display of Mohammadi's life and why she should be supported and celebrated, and indeed why she should be released from the prison. 

Mohammadi has been rendering a brave social struggle in Iran with tremendous personal costs. According to the committee, "Altogether, 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 (a corporal punishment in Iran that are often carried out in public)." Selecting Narges as the recipient of the Peace Prize, the committee took to social media and wrote, "The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all." 

Besides honouring her with the Nobel Peace Prize, the committee has also urged the Iranian regime to release Narges Mohammadi. The Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said, "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. If the Iranian authorities make the right decision, they will release her so that she can be present to receive this honour in December, which is what we primarily hope for." 

Who is Narges Mohammadi? 

Born in Zanjan, Iran, Mohammadi has been a prominent human rights icon across and beyond Iran. An engineer by profession, Mohammadi started writing articles supporting women's rights and from then on, she contributed towards working for human rights and freedom. Mohammadi had also worked as a journalist for Iranian reformist newspapers. In 2003, she joined the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC) that was headed by Shirin Ebadi.

Shirin Ebadi has won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 and twenty years later, her staff Narges Mohammadi has become the recipient of Nobel Peace Prize in a much challenging political landscape. In brief time, Mohammadi became the vice-president of Defenders of Human Rights Center. In an astonishing fashion, both Mohammadi and her husband Taghi Rahmani had spent years serving in the prison. 

While Rahmani moved to France in 2012 with their children, Mohammadi remained in Iran and continued her fight for freedom and human rights. She was first arrested in 1998 for her criticisms of the Iranian regime and she spent a year in prison. After her release, she engaged herself with the Defenders of Human Rights Center and in 2011, she was arrested for the first time and sentenced to many years of imprisonment for her efforts to assist the jailed activists and their families. 

After her release on bail two years later, Mohammadi engaged in a campaign against the use of death penalty, as Iran has been one of the countries that reports more number of executions each year -- since January 2022, more than 850 prisoners have been punished by death in Iran. For her campaign against capital punishment, Mohammadi was arrested again in 2015 and when she came to the prison, she started giving her voice against Iranian regime's measures of torture and sexual violence against the political prisoners, especially women. 

When she was arrested in May 2015, she was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment on the charge of founding an illegal group for her 'stop the death penalty campaign'. In January 2019, Mohammadi began her hunger strike in Tehran's Evin prison to protest against the government for blocking the medical care. In October 2020, months after she developed Covid symptoms and getting recovered, she was released from prison. However, in February 2021, she released a video describing the sexual abuse she and other women inmates faced in prisons. 

She had risen to be a strong voice against the death penalty in Iran and for her foreword, that she wrote to the Iran Human Rights Annual Report in March 2021 on the death penalty, a criminal court in May 2021 sentenced Mohammadi to two-and-a-half years in prison, 80 lashes, and two separate fines for charges including 'spreading propaganda against the system'. She received summons four months later, for which she didn't respond. In November 2021, she was arrested while attending a memorial for Ebrahim Ketabdar, who was killed by the Iranian security forces during protests in November 2019.

Death of Mahsa Amini 

Following her arrest in November 2021, Mohammadi was lodged at Evin Prison, nearly a year ahead of an unprecedented uprising in Iran. In September 2022, a 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini was killed while in the custody of the Iranian morality police. Amini was arrested by the police for not wearing the headscarf properly and her death had sparked an uprising where Iran had witnessed the largest political demonstrations against its authoritarian regime. 

Under the slogan 'Women - Life - Freedom', thousands of women across the country took streets to protest against the brutality of the police and oppression of women. The Iranian regime rolled out a tight clampdown on the protests - more than 500 protesters were killed, thousands were injured and many had lost their vision. At least 20,000 people were arrested and taken under custody amidst a global attention. Narges Mohammadi, who had already been fighting against the oppression of women, had in December 2022, amidst a nationwide protest, had detailed the sexual and physical abuses faced by women inmates in prison. 

In January 2023, Mohammadi gave a chilling report from prison about the condition of the women in Evin prison, including a list of 58 prisoners and the interrogation process and tortures they have endured. She also revealed that 57 of these women have spent 8350 days in the solitary confinement. During her prison times, Mohammadi expressed support for the demonstrators and organised solidarity actions among her fellow inmates. The result -- the prison authorities had imposed more stricter conditions on her and she was banned from receiving calls and visitors. 

In the middle of an ordeal, Mohammadi wrote out an article on the one-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini's killing and her message, that was published by the New York Times, was, "The more of us they lock up, the stronger we become." In a statement, the Nobel Prize Committee said that the motto adopted by the demonstrators during Amini's death and protest - Women, Life, Freedom - suitably expresses the dedication and work of Narges Mohammadi. 

"Narges Mohammadi is a woman, a human rights advocate, and a freedom fighter. In awarding her this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour her courageous fight for human rights, freedom, and democracy in Iran. Only by embracing equal rights for all can the world achieve the fraternity between nations that Alfred Nobel (the founder of Nobel Prize) sought to promote. The award to Narges Mohammadi follows a long tradition in which the Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the Peace Prize to those working to advance social justice, human rights, and democracy. These are important preconditions for lasting peace", the committee added. 

So far, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to 111 individuals and 27 organizations. Narges Mohammadi is the 19th woman to have won the Nobel Peace Prize. As the award exhibits the bravery of Mohammadi, such an international recognition on Mohammadi would not be welcomed by the Iranian regime. Mohammadi's husband Taghi Rahmani told Reuters after she won the award, "This Nobel Prize will embolden Narges' fight for human rights, but more importantly, this is in fact a prize for the woman, life, freedom." 

Nobel Peace Prize comes with a cash reward of around $1 million and the UN human rights office said the Nobel Peace Prize had highlighted the bravery of Iranian women. The office's spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell said, "We have seen their courage and determination in the face of reprisals, intimidation, violence, and detention." "They have been harassed for what they do or don't wear. There are increasingly stringent legal, secure, and economic measures against them. They are an inspiration to the world", she added.

Mohammadi had won a slew of awards, honouring her activitism for human rights and freedom. Notably, in 2010, when Nobel Peace Prize recipient and founder of DHRC, Shirin Ebadi won the Felix Ermacora Human Rights Award, she dedicated the honour to Mohammadi and Ebadi said, "This courageous woman deserves this award more than I do."