Here's a summary of the announcement of the 2023 Nobel peace prize
Last year’s Nobel peace prize winner, Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Centre for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, says Ukraine’s future depends on the success of those fighting for freedom in Iran.
Narges Mohammadi’s brother, Hamidreza, said he is overjoyed after waking up to the news of his sister’s Nobel peace prize. “We hope it will be safer for those in Iran. The situation there is very dangerous, activists there can lose their lives,” he told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. Describing waking up to the news of his sister’s award, he said: “The joy is so great. I am so happy on behalf of Narges.”
The Nobel peace prize laureates this year and in recent years demonstrate that “democracy is in decline”, says the Nobel committee chair. By awarding the prize to Mohammadi, the committee hopes to send a signal to the Iranian government to “listen to your own people”.
Naming Mohammadi as this year’s winner is “first and foremost a recognition of a whole movement in Iran with its undisputed leader Narges Mohammadi,” says the Nobel committee.
The winner of the Nobel peace prize 2023 is announced in Oslo as Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her efforts to promote human rights and freedom for all.
That’s it from me now. Thanks so much for reading. Here is the full story from the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour:
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Last year's Nobel peace prize winner says Ukraine's future depends on the success of those fighting for freedom in Iran
Oleksandra Matviichuk, the head of the Centre for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, which won the Nobel peace prize last year, said:
I welcome the Nobel committee’s decision to award the Nobel peace prize to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran. We live in a very interconnected world. Right now, people in Iran are fighting for freedom. Our future depends on their success.
It is more than obvious for Ukraine. I live in Kyiv, which is regularly bombarded by Russian missiles and Iranian drones. If authoritarian regimes cooperate, then people fighting for freedom have to support each other much more strongly.
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Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, who was also tipped for the prize, commended Mohammadi’s bravery, adding: “Human rights and freedom for all are fundamental for peace.”
I congratulate Narges Mohammadi on winning the 2023 #NobelPeacePrize. You have been brave in your fight against the oppression of women. Human rights and freedom for all are fundamental for peace. #NobelPrize
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) October 6, 2023
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Suzanne Nossel, the CEO of PEN America, said Mohammadi’s win was “unbelievable”, describing her as “fearless”.
Unbelievable. Our 2023 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award winner, fearless Iranian women's rights defender Narges Mohammadi wins the #nobelpeaceprize. Second time in the history of the prize, last one being Liu Xiaobo in 2009/2010. #freenarges pic.twitter.com/a6RhVdnlPh
— Suzanne Nossel (@SuzanneNossel) October 6, 2023
Mohammadi's brother says 'I am so happy on behalf of Narges'
Narges Mohammadi’s brother, Hamidreza, has said is overjoyed after waking up to the news of his sister’s Nobel peace prize.
He told the Norwegian broadcaster NRK that he hopes the prize will make activists’ lives safer in Iran.
“We hope it will be safer for those in Iran. The situation there is very dangerous, activists there can lose their lives,” he said.
Describing waking up to the news of his sister’s award, he said: “The joy is so great. I am so happy on behalf of Narges.”
He said he doesn’t know whether she will get the news immediately, but that perhaps somebody will tell her in prison. She may never get out of prison, he said. “It is difficult to say that she can be released, under this regime.”
Mohammadi has been imprisoned 13 times and convicted five times. In total, she has been sentenced to 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.
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'Democracy is in decline' says Nobel committee chair, urging the Iranian government to 'listen to your own people'
The Nobel peace prize laureates this year and in recent years demonstrate that “democracy is in decline”, says Nobel committee chair Reiss-Andersen.
By awarding the prize to Mohammadi, the committee hopes to send a signal to the Iranian government to “listen to your own people”, she adds.
Nobel committee says naming Mohammadi as peace prize winner is 'a recognition of a whole movement'
Reiss-Andersen says that by naming Mohammadi as this year’s winner, it is “first and foremost a recognition of a whole movement in Iran with its undisputed leader Narges Mohammadi”.
She adds: “We hope that it is an encouragement to continue their work in which ever form this movement finds to be fitting.”
Asked how she will physically be awarded the prize in December, she says she hopes that the Iranian government will make “the right decision” by releasing her to receive the prize. But, she says, they have a few months to plan logistics.
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When last year’s wave of protests became known to the political prisoners being held in Tehran, “once again” Mohammadi started organising her inmates, says Reiss-Andersen, adding that she managed to smuggle out an article that was published in the New York Times.
She has ensured that the protests “have not ebbed out”.
“In awarding her this year’s Nobel peace prize, the Nobel committee wishes to honour her courageous struggle for human rights and democracy in Iran,” says Reiss-Andersen.
She says it also recognises the many others who have protested against the regime and its targeting of women.
“Only by embracing equal rights for all can the world achieve the fraternity of relations that Alfred Nobel sought to promote.”
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“Woman, life, freedom”, says Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, arriving at the lectern, repeating the slogan of Iranian protesters.
Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal cost. 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. Ms Mohammadi is still in prison as I speak.
More from the Nobel peace prize on the just-announced 2023 laureate:
Narges Mohammadi’s brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. The Iranian regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. Mohammadi is still in prison.
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The announcement arrived by Twitter before the livestream:
BREAKING NEWS
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2023
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2023 #NobelPeacePrize to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.#NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/2fyzoYkHyf
Nobel peace prize winner announced
The winner of the Nobel peace prize 2023 is Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her efforts to promote human rights and freedom for all.
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In a little more than five minutes, here is where the winner of this year’s Nobel peace prize will be awarded:
Set up has started for the announcement of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2023
This year's prize will be revealed at 11:00 CEST. We'll be streaming the news live on our social channels and website.#NobelPeacePrize #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/fVkW9R3TrP
Fawzia Koofi, who was deputy speaker of the Afghan national assembly, Simar Samar, the country’s first female vice-president, Zarifa Ghafari, Afghanistan’s first female mayor, leading businesswoman Hassina Syed and Mahbouba Seraj, who is speaking to Taliban leaders in the hope of getting girls back into school, have also been tipped as potential winners of this year’s prize.
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The Nobel committee could focus on Iran, with figures including Masih Alinejad, who started the My Stealthy Freedom and #WhiteWednesdays campaigns, the human rights defender Narges Mohammadi and lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh named as potential contenders for the prize. Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammad, the two journalists who first wrote about 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini’s death last year may also be in the running.
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Amal Clooney, the human rights lawyer and lawyer of peace prize-winners Nadia Murad and Maria Ressa, could be in the frame, suggests the Norwegian broadcaster NRK. It also tips the human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, William Pace, the head of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, and Pope Francis for his warnings on the climate crisis.
It also tips humanitarian organisations including SOS Méditerranée and Médecins Sans Frontières, which have been nominated for the prize in recent years, and the UN high commissioner for refugees.
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This is how the Guardian covered the first Nobel peace prize, awarded in 1901 to Henry Dunant and Frédéric Passy:
Five years ago the world was surprised by the announcement that the late Alfred Nobel, who had become rich and famous by inventing dynamite and other high explosives, had bequeathed a vast fortune for distribution from time to time among the persons who had done most to advance the cause of peace. It was difficult at first to think of him as a sympathiser with the peace movement, unless he might be supposed to have regarded his explosives as a means of making warfare so terrible that civilisation must needs refuse to face it. But the seeming paradox was soon forgotten in admiration for the splendid humanity which prompted Nobel’s bequest and dictated the remarkable conditions under which the prizes founded by him were to be awarded, irrespective of nationality, to those who, in various departments, had done most to benefit mankind.
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According to the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist and engineer who created dynamite and who founded and funded the prize, the award should go to the person “who has worked the most or the best for the fraternisation of peoples and the abolition or reduction of standing armies as well as the formation and spread of peace congresses”.
The times when the prize has not been awarded has often been amid periods of major wars because there were not perceived to be any worthy winners.
Until the first world war, the prize often went to pioneers of the organised peace movement, but between the world wars, the focus moved to politicians who had worked for peace negotiations and international agreements, as well as those behind humanitarian work.
After the second world war, the prize most often rewarded efforts in arms control and disarmament, peace mediation, democracy, human rights and contributors to making the world more organised and peaceful.
In recent years, the prize has also been awarded for work to counter environmental threats and the climate criss.
Also tipped for this year’s Nobel peace prize is, for the fourth year in a row, the climate activist Greta Thunberg, Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate and the broadcaster David Attenborough.
The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter notes that it is also possible that the committee may not award the prize to anybody – which has happened 19 times in the past, although not since 1972.
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Nobel peace prize winner to be announced in less than an hour
The Nobel peace prize is announced today at a ceremony in Oslo, which we will be reporting live here.
Among this year’s tipped contenders are the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, and the UN secretary general, António Guterres.
The committee had a total of 351 candidates to choose from (259 of which are individuals and 92 organisations) and the winner will be awarded a gold medal, a diploma and 11m Swedish krona.
While we await the announcement from the Nobel Institute, due at 11am CEST (10am BST), and all the reaction, we will be looking at who the leading contenders are for this year’s prize.
After the announcement, a peace dove will fly from the windows of the Nobel Peace Centre and a photo of the new Nobel peace prize laureate revealed in the Nobel Field installation.
On Saturday, the centre will hold a celebration of this year’s laureate with a lecture by the chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen.
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