Narges Mohammadi, a jailed Iranian women’s rights advocate, has won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”, according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the awarding body, Aljazeera reported.

“Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. 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,” Berit Reiss-Andersen, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said in Oslo during the prize announcement on Friday.

Mohammadi is one of Iran’s leading human rights activists, who has campaigned for women’s rights and the abolition of the death penalty, according to Aljazeera.

Is Narges Mohammadi in jail?

Mohammadi is currently serving multiple sentences in Tehran’s Evin prison amounting to about 12 years imprisonment, according to the Front Line Defenders rights organisation, one of the many periods she has been detained behind bars. Charges include spreading propaganda against the state.

She is the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a non-governmental organisation led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Henrik Urdal, director of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, told Al Jazeera after the announcement that this was “a very important prize, one that is celebrating the achievements of human rights defenders, specifically women’s rights defenders in Iran, which has been a very troubled country”.

“This is a prize that is also focusing on the sacrifices of young people in Iran. It is a way of underlining their sacrifices and the challenges human rights defenders are operating under in Iran,” he said.

Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the 122-year-old prize.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee picked this year’s winner for the world’s most significant peace prize from 351 candidates, including 259 individuals and 92 organisations.