Following the Nobel Prize Committee’s decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to journalist and activist Narges Mohammadi, it drew condemnation from the Iranian government, which described it as a political act.

“The decision of the Nobel Prize Committee is a political act that is in line with the interventionist and anti-Iran policies of some European governments,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Naser Kananí said in a statement.

The diplomat stated that this is yet another “measure of pressure from the West” against Iran and stated that Mohammadi has been convicted of “repeatedly breaking the law and committing criminal acts.”

The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize went to Narges Mohammadi, activist for women’s rights in Iran

For his part, UN Secretary General António Guterres opined that “it is a stark reminder that women’s rights are undergoing a significant setback worldwide.”

This setback is reflected in the persecution of women defenders of their rights, both in Iran and in other countries, she said.

For this reason, the Nobel Prize “serves as a tribute to all women who fight for their rights and risk their freedom, their health and even their lives,” Guterres said in a statement.

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 custody fed up. .

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.

The activist’s son, in turn, said he was “very proud” of his mother, whom he had not seen for eight years.

“I am very proud of my mother, very happy,” 17-year-old Ali said, adding that this award is “a reward for the Iranian people,” at a press conference in Paris, where he lives with his father and son . twin sister.

His father and Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, stressed that the Nobel Prize “is even more important now that the Islamic Republic is lashing out at and silencing human rights activists.”

“It is also very important that this award is aimed at the interior of Iran, that it symbolically reaches the political prisoners, who are the soul of the resistance,” he added.

Rahmani said he had not communicated with his wife, who was imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin prison, and did not know whether she was aware of his Nobel Prize.

“Receiving such an award is a joy, but also a responsibility,” he explained. “Narges knows this will get her in trouble, but she’s taking that risk.” (JO)