Last Friday in Oslo, the women’s rights movement in Iran was recognized at the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in the figure of the imprisoned activist Narges Mohammadi.

In its statement, the Norwegian Nobel Committee emphasized “the fight against the oppression of women in Iran and the promotion of human rights and freedom for all” of Mohammadi, the nineteenth woman to win this award and one of the names who was heard most in the elections. swimming pools prior to award.

“Narges Mohammadi is a woman, a defender of human rights and a fighter for freedom,” emphasized the Committee, which expressly recognized “the hundreds of thousands of people who protested last year against the theocratic regime’s policy of discrimination and oppression against women.”

Despite being imprisoned in Evin Prison, where she is serving a 16-year sentence, Mohammadi has played a “leadership role” in supporting the protest movement that emerged following the September 2022 death of a young Kurdish woman while in prison. was in prison. guardianship.

The Nobel Committee accused the Iranian regime of “severely suppressing” the “peaceful” protests, resulting in half a thousand deaths, thousands of injuries and “at least” 20,000 arrests.

The committee’s chairman, Berit Reiss-Andersen, asked at the press conference after the prize announcement that Tehran “listen to its people” and release the winner so she can travel to Norway next year to receive the Nobel Prize in person . December 10.

Reiss-Andersen had begun the statement with three Persian words (zan, zendegi, azadi: woman, life, freedom), the motto of the latest wave of protests in Iran.

Mohammadi, 56, began her commitment to the fight for women’s rights in the 1990s while still in college, working as a columnist in several reformist newspapers and later at the Center for Human Rights Defenders in Tehran, headed by lawyer Shirin Ebadi. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003.

His first arrest took place in 2011, “for his efforts to help imprisoned activists and their families”; Two years later he was released on bail, but in 2015 he returned to prison for his activism “against the death penalty” and began opposing the “systematic” use of “torture and sexual violence” in Iranian prisons.

His support for the protest movement that emerged last year led to a tightening of his prison regime.

“The award to Narges Mohammadi follows a long tradition in which the Norwegian Nobel Committee has recognized those who are committed to promoting social justice, human rights and democracy. “These are important conditions for sustainable peace,” the jury emphasizes in its motivation.

The choice of Mohammadi, who won the 2022 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Courage Award and this year the UNESCO Guillermo Cano for Press Freedom, was praised inside and outside Norway.

“This award recognizes all those who, at great personal risk, stand up for women’s freedom and rights,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

UN Office for Human Rights spokesperson Liz Throssell noted that the winner “highlights the courage and determination of the women of Iran and how they inspire the world.”

European Council President Charles Michel noted on his account on the social network X that the Iranian activist “is a beacon of hope for women around the world.”

Narges Mohammadi, who will receive the 11 million Swedish crowns (almost a million dollars) that all Nobel Prize winners are awarded this year, succeeds Belarusian Ales Bialiatski and the Russian organizations Memorial and the Ukrainian Center on the Peace Prize list. Freedoms.

The Nobel Peace Prize is the only one of the six prizes awarded outside Sweden, in Oslo, at the express wish of the prizes’ creator, Swedish magnate Alfred Nobel, as Norway was part of the neighboring country at the time.

The round of Nobel Prize winners will conclude next Monday with Economics. (JO)