Jailed Iranian women’s activist smuggles out letter of thanks for Nobel Peace Prize
- Narges Mohammadi is behind bars in Tehran, with charges including spreading propaganda against the state
- She won the peace prize this month, a boost for anti-government protesters. The letter said ‘victory is not easy, but it is certain’
Jailed Iranian women’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi has smuggled out a letter of thanks for her Nobel Peace Prize awarded in October, saying it marked a turning point in “empowering protest and social movements worldwide”.
The imprisoned women’s rights advocate won the 2023 peace prize on October 6 in a rebuke to Tehran’s theocratic leaders and boost for anti-government protesters, while also drawing the Islamic Republic’s swift condemnation.
Mohammadi is serving multiple sentences in Tehran’s Evin Prison amounting to about 12 years imprisonment, one of the many periods she has been detained behind bars, according to the Front Line Defenders rights organisation.
Charges include spreading propaganda against the state.
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2023 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Iranian women’s rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi
In the letter smuggled out of prison and read by her daughter Kiana in a video posted on the Nobel website, Mohammadi said the news of her Nobel Prize had been met with cries from her cellmates of “Woman, Life, Freedom”, the slogan of the movement of which she is part.
“I am grateful to all of you and urge you to support the people of Iran until the final victory,” she said in the letter read by her daughter, the first official reaction from Mohammadi to her winning the prestigious award.
