Will a Prize Save Iran’s Political Prisoner?

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A Righteous Nobelist

Every so often, “now and then,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee gives the Nobel Peace Prize to a political prisoner, reports Jay Nordlinger in NRO.

In the mid-30s, the Committee gave the prize to Carl von Ossietzky, a prisoner of the Nazis. In 2010, the prize was awarded to Liu Xiaobo, a prisoner of the Chinese Communists. Last year’s committee gave it to, along with two others, Ales Bialiaski, a prisoner in Belarus.

This year, the 2023 laureate went to Narges Mohammadi, who is in Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran. Evin is one of the “most ‘notorious,’ one of the most hellish, places on earth,” according to Nordlinger:

All her life, Mohammadi has campaigned for freedom, democracy, and human rights. Since 1998, she has been in and out of prison (mostly in, as she is now). Her health is very bad. But she is an indomitable type, apparently.

She has always refused to leave Iran, reasoning that, if change is to come, it will come from within. Her husband and their children — twins, age 16 — live in France.

Jay Nordinger writes of his hope that the Nobel Prize will improve conditions for Narges Mohammadi and for Iran.

If you want to read more from Jay about winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, read his book on the most famous, controversial prize in the world: “Give Peace, They Say: a History of the Nobel Peace Prize, …”.  One review describes Jay’s book as enlightening, enriching, and “sometimes even fun.”