Headline

Iran Women’s Activist Narges Mohammadi Wins Peace Nobel

Published

2 years ago

October 6, 2023

Editor

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to imprisoned activist Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran, many of whom are removing their hijabs despite a harsh crackdown.

Mohammadi’s award comes after a wave of protests swept Iran following the death in custody a year ago of a young Iranian Kurd, Mahsa Amini, arrested for violating Iran’s strict dress rules for women.

A 51-year-old journalist and activist, Mohammadi has spent much of the past two decades in and out of jail for her campaign against the mandatory hijab for women and the death penalty.

Speaking to AFP, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee urged Iran to release Mohammadi, a call echoed by the United Nations.

“I appeal to Iran: Do something dignified and release the Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi,” committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said.

The recent protests in Iran “accelerated the process of realising democracy, freedom and equality in Iran”, a process that is now “irreversible”, Mohammadi told AFP last month in a letter written from her prison cell.

She and three other women held with her at Tehran’s Evin prison burned their hijabs to mark the anniversary of Amini’s death on September 16.

– Crackdown –

Mohammadi, who flaunts long black curls and had been mentioned as a possible winner ahead of the announcement, was honoured “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”, Reiss-Andersen said.

“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,” she added.

Mohammadi is the vice-president of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre founded by Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, who herself won the Peace Prize in 2003.

Iran is ranked 143rd out of 146 countries on the World Economic Forum’s gender equality ranking.

Authorities cracked down harshly on last year’s “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising — the words Reiss-Andersen used to begin Friday’s announcement, in English and Farsi: “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi”.

A total of 551 protesters, including 68 children and 49 women, were killed by security forces, according to Iran Human Rights, and thousands of others were arrested.

The uprising has continued, albeit under other forms.

In what would have been unthinkable a year ago, women now go out in public without the headscarf, in particular in Tehran and other big cities, despite the risks.

A 16-year-old girl is currently in a coma after being attacked on Sunday by female police officers tasked with enforcing the mandatory hijab among other things, according to the Kurdish-focused rights group Hengaw.

Wearing the hijab is one of the pillars of the Islamic republic.

Authorities have stepped up controls, using surveillance cameras among other things, and have arrested actresses who post pictures of themselves on social media without the hijab.

In September, Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament announced heavier penalties for women who refuse to wear it.

– ‘No prospect of freedom’ –

“This year’s Peace Prize also recognises the hundreds of thousands of people who in the preceding year have demonstrated against the theocratic regimes policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women,” Reiss-Andersen said.

She called Mohammadi the “undisputed leader” of the uprising.

Mohammadi’s family said the prize was a “historic and profound moment for Iran’s fight for freedom”, while the United Nations called for “her release and the release of all human rights defenders jailed in Iran”.

Incarcerated this time since November 2021, Mohammadi has not seen her children, who live in France with her husband, for eight years.

Considered a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International, she told AFP in her letter that she had “almost no prospect of freedom”.

She is the second Iranian to win the Nobel Peace Prize after Ebadi.

In 2003, Ebadi defied conservative Iranians by refusing to wear the hijab when she received her prize in Oslo.

If she remains behind bars, Mohammadi will not be able to make the trip to Oslo to receive her award at the annual prize ceremony on December 10.

The Peace Prize has on five occasions honoured jailed activists, including last year when it went to Ales Bialiatski of Belarus, whose prize was accepted by his wife, and Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010, whose chair remained empty.

Headline

Published

15 minutes ago

August 28, 2025

Editor

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, on Wednesday, upheld the conviction and 18-year jail term of Nigerian national, Chinedu Justice Obasi, who was found guilty of human trafficking and entering into a fraudulent marriage to secure residency.

According to Independent News Eswatini, Obasi was convicted in December 2017 on three counts and handed his sentence in September 2018.

The charges included two counts of harbouring women for exploitation and one count of fraudulent marriage.

Court records seen by the news platform showed that between April and September 2016, Obasi harboured two women, identified as Busisiwe and Puleng, at a flat in Pretoria, where he allegedly forced them into prostitution.

He was said to have taken their earnings, supplied them with drugs, and restricted their movements, monitoring them constantly to prevent escape.

The fraudulent marriage charge dated back to 2005, when Obasi married a South African woman but failed to live with her, with the court ruling that the union was contracted solely to obtain legal residency.

According to the case file, Busisiwe met Obasi in December 2015, while Puleng was introduced to him through Busisiwe in May 2016. Both women eventually ended up under the control of Obasi and his co-accused, who continued their exploitation.

On appeal, Obasi argued that the trial court overlooked his personal circumstances and failed to properly consider evidence.

However, the presiding Judge Graham Moshoana dismissed the claims, stressing that Obasi never testified in his defence.

Judge Moshoana described the case as a clear instance of modern-day slavery.

He said, “Human trafficking exists because people are vulnerable to exploitation due to poverty, lack of education and desperation.

“Victims are often abused, confused and disoriented. People are trafficked for sex, labour and other related reasons.”

With the ruling, Obasi will continue to serve his 18-year prison term.

Headline

VIDEO: Two Nigerians Arrested In Libya For Alleged Robbery

Published

3 hours ago

August 28, 2025

Editor

Police in Tripoli, Libya, have arrested two Nigerians for allegedly carrying out a series of robberies in the city.

The suspects, both undocumented migrants, were arrested on August 25 after they were captured on CCTV robbing a convenience store.

Migrant Rescue Watch, an organisation that monitors migrant activities, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the group, the suspects had allegedly been responsible for multiple break-ins and robberies targeting commercial stores with the intent of seizing cash.

The statement said, “Police in Tripoli arrested 2 undocumented #migrants of Nigerian nationality responsible for series of break and entries and robberies. The accused were targeting commercial stores with the intent of seizing cash. The case was referred to public prosecutor.”

Watch video below:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1961001698136072343https://twitter.com/i/status/1961001698136072343

Headline

NGO Says Starving Gaza Children Too Weak To Cry

Published

16 hours ago

August 27, 2025

Editor

The head of Save the Children described in horrific detail on Wednesday the slow agony of starving children in Gaza, saying they are so weak they do not even cry.

Addressing a Security Council meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the president of the international charity, Inger Ashing, said famine — declared by the UN last week to be happening in Gaza — is not just a dry technical term.

“When there is not enough food, children become acutely malnourished, and then they die slowly and painfully. This, in simple terms, is what famine is,” said Ashing.

She went on to describe what happens when children die of hunger over the course of several weeks, as the body first consumes its own fat to survive, and when that is gone, literally consumes itself as it eats muscles and vital organs.

“Yet our clinics are almost silent. Now, children do not have the strength to speak or even cry out in agony. They lie there, emaciated, quite literally wasting away,” said Ashing.

She insisted that aid groups have been warning loudly that famine was coming as Israel prevented food and other essentials from entering Gaza over the course of two years of war triggered by the Hamas attack of October 2023.

“Everyone in this room has a legal and moral responsibility to act to stop this atrocity,” said Ashing.

The United Nations officially declared famine in Gaza on Friday, blaming what it called the systematic obstruction of aid by Israel during more than 22 months of war.

A UN-backed hunger monitor called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative said famine was affecting 500,000 people in the Gaza governorate, which covers about a fifth of the Palestinian territory, including Gaza City.

The IPC projected that the famine would expand by the end of September to cover around two-thirds of Gaza.
AFP