Nobel Peace Prize: what became of the recent laureates?

The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded in Oslo on October 11. In recent years, the prize has recognized various struggles, from the fight for women’s rights to the defense of human rights and press freedom. Since their victories, the laureates have continued their fight, even if the prestigious Nobel Prize has not protected them from persecution.

► Narges Mohammadi: Convicted again

Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian women’s rights and anti-death penalty activist, received the Nobel Prize in October 2023 for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”

At the time, she received the news from Evin Prison in the Iranian capital, where she had been imprisoned since November 2021. She remains there to this day. Last June, the activist was sentenced again, this time to 15 months in prison, for accusing Iranian security forces of sexually abusing female prisoners.

On August 6, her family expressed concerns about her health and denounced the mistreatment in prison: “After an attack by guards in the women’s section of Evin on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, Narges Mohammadi lost consciousness, possibly after a heart attack.”

On the anniversary of receiving her Nobel Prize, Mohammadi released a statement reaffirming her struggle: “I will endure all suffering in the name of peace, democracy and human rights, as these processes will make me stronger,” she wrote.

“The perpetrators of war are the outcasts and the disgraced throughout history.”

Say #NargesMohammadi in a letter from Evin Prison to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, on the occasion of the anniversary of her Nobel Peace Prize and next year’s announcement approaching.https://t.co/D5b2jUnXDa

—Narges Mohammadi | نرگس محمدی (@nargesfnd) October 7, 2024

► Ales Bialiatsky: still imprisoned in Russia

Alongside Mohammadi, Ales Bialiatski is part of a grim list of five Nobel Peace Prize laureates who were imprisoned when they received the award.

Together with the now defunct Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, the Belarusian activist was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2022 for “for many years promoting the right to criticize power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens.”

While in pre-trial detention when he received the Nobel Prize, he was later sentenced to ten years in prison by Belarusian authorities in 2023 for “smuggling” and “financing group actions that seriously disrupted public order.”

On July 12, Amnesty International expressed concerns about his health: “In early May 2023, Ales Bialiatski was transferred to Penal Colony No. 9 in Horki. The prison administration refused to accept packages of medical supplies sent by his family, endangering his health, already weakened by previous captivity.”

► Dmitri Muratov and Maria Ressa: haunted in their country

In 2021, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to two journalists, the Filipino Maria Ressa and the Russian Dmitri Muratov, “for their courageous struggle for freedom of expression.”

Since then, the editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta has been closely involved in the resistance to the war in Ukraine. He notably auctioned off his Nobel Prize medal, raising almost €100 million for displaced children affected by the war. In 2023, he was added to the Russian authorities’ list of “foreign agents,” a label used to silence critics.

Maria Ressa has also faced legal problems in her country. Although the Filipino journalist was acquitted of all tax evasion charges in 2023, she still faces the threat of a long prison sentence in other cases.

In 2020, Maria Ressa and a former colleague, Rey Santos Jr., were found guilty of “cyber libel.” The case, in which they face nearly seven years in prison, is still under investigation by the country’s Supreme Court.