Over 120 Nobel Laureates from around the world stand in solidarity with the calls for justice and freedom in the wake of the death of 22 year-old Mahsa Amini.
An Open Letter to the People of Iran
Nobel Laureates from around the world stand in solidarity with the courageous actions of the people of Iran and join them in their calls for justice and freedom, and for the protection of human rights for all citizens of the country.
Nobel laureates condemn the Iranian authorities’ violence against women and protestors.
“We condemn these barbaric actions toward women and protesters in Iran,” said laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2003. “Women should be free and there must be removal of all legal discriminations against women.”
We are witnessing the protests across Iran in response to the cruel treatment of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the police, and her death days later from her injuries. Mahsa’s death sparked protests in her hometown of Saqez and in over one hundred towns and cities throughout Iran. According to videos received and verified including by the BBC Persian Service, the security forces opened fire on protesters resulting in injuries, hospitalizations and deaths. Women protesters removed their headscarves, waved them in the air and burned them in protest. Many have been arrested. The suppression of the peoples’ human right to freedom of expression continues.
We, as Nobel Laureates, add our voices to the global condemnation of the actions leading to Mahsa Amini’s death on 16 September 2022, and for the crackdown by Iran's morality police street patrols enforcing a compulsory dress code.
Joining with protesters in Iran, Nobel laureates call for the following demands to the Iranian government and security forces:
- End state persecution and harassment of women.
- Removal of all discriminatory laws against women.
- End state violence against protestors and immediately release those detained.
- Launch a transparent, independent investigation into Mahsa Amini’s treatment by morality police, and her death.
- Ensure full accountability for all crimes committed against Mahsa Amini and peaceful protesters, journalists, and civil society actors.
We call upon the international community, the United Nations Human Rights Bodies and mandate holders to support the people of Iran and hold the government accountable to international human rights commitments.
Nobel Laureates join with the people of Iran for human rights, justice and democracy.
Open Letter in Farsi (pdf)
Downloadable PDF in English
Supporting Nobel Laureates:
|
Name |
Category |
Prize Year |
|
Peter Agre |
Chemistry |
2003 |
|
Thomas R. Cech |
Chemistry |
1989 |
|
Martin Chalfie |
Chemistry |
2008 |
|
Emmanuelle Charpentier |
Chemistry |
2020 |
|
Aaron Ciechanover |
Chemistry |
2004 |
|
Elias James Corey |
Chemistry |
1990 |
|
Johann Deisenhofer |
Chemistry |
1988 |
|
Gerhard Ertl |
Chemistry |
2007 |
|
Joachim Frank |
Chemistry |
2017 |
|
Alan Heeger |
Chemistry |
2000 |
|
Richard Henderson |
Chemistry |
2017 |
|
Dudley R. Herschbach |
Chemistry |
1986 |
|
Avram Hershko |
Chemistry |
2004 |
|
Roald Hoffmann |
Chemistry |
1981 |
|
Robert Huber |
Chemistry |
1988 |
|
Martin Karplus |
Chemistry |
2013 |
|
Brian K. Kobilka |
Chemistry |
2012 |
|
Roger D. Kornberg |
Chemistry |
2006 |
|
Yuan T. Lee |
Chemistry |
1986 |
|
Robert J. Lefkowitz |
Chemistry |
2012 |
|
Jean-Marie Lehn |
Chemistry |
1987 |
|
Michael Levitt |
Chemistry |
2013 |
|
Tomas Lindahl |
Chemistry |
2015 |
|
Benjamin List |
Chemistry |
2021 |
|
David W.C. MacMillan |
Chemistry |
2021 |
|
Hartmut Michel |
Chemistry |
1988 |
|
Paul L. Modrich |
Chemistry |
2015 |
|
William E. Moerner |
Chemistry |
2014 |
|
John C. Polanyi |
Chemistry |
1986 |
|
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan |
Chemistry |
2009 |
|
Jean-Pierre Sauvage |
Chemistry |
2016 |
|
Richard R. Schrock |
Chemistry |
2005 |
|
K. Barry Sharpless |
Chemistry |
2001 |
|
Barry Sharpless |
Chemistry |
2022 |
|
Dan Shechtman |
Chemistry |
2011 |
|
George P. Smith |
Chemistry |
2018 |
|
Sir James Fraser Stoddart |
Chemistry |
2016 |
|
Sir John E. Walker |
Chemistry |
1997 |
|
Arieh Warshel |
Chemistry |
2013 |
|
Sir Gregory P. Winter |
Chemistry |
2018 |
|
Oliver Hart |
Economics |
2016 |
|
Finn E. Kydland |
Economics |
2004 |
|
Eric S. Maskin |
Economics |
2007 |
|
Paul R. Milgrom |
Economics |
2020 |
|
Roger B. Myerson |
Economics |
2007 |
|
Edmund S. Phelps |
Economics |
2006 |
|
Christopher A. Pissarides |
Economics |
2010 |
|
Alvin E. Roth |
Economics |
2012 |
|
Vernon L. Smith |
Economics |
2002 |
|
Svetlana Alexievich |
Literature |
2015 |
|
J. M. Coetzee |
Literature |
2003 |
|
Elfriede Jelinek |
Literature |
2004 |
|
Patrick Modiano |
Literature |
2014 |
|
Herta Muller |
Literature |
2009 |
|
Orhan Pamuk |
Literature |
2006 |
|
Wole Soyinka |
Literature |
1986 |
|
Mario Vargas Llosa |
Literature |
2010 |
|
Harvey J. Alter |
Medicine |
2020 |
|
Werner Arber |
Medicine |
1978 |
|
Francoise Barre-Sinoussi |
Medicine |
2008 |
|
J. Michael Bishop |
Medicine |
1989 |
|
Elizabeth H. Blackburn |
Medicine |
2009 |
|
Linda B. Buck |
Medicine |
2004 |
|
William C. Campbell |
Medicine |
2015 |
|
Mario R. Capecchi |
Medicine |
2007 |
|
Carol W. Greider |
Medicine |
2009 |
|
Jeffrey Connor Hall |
Medicine |
2017 |
|
Jules A. Hoffmann |
Medicine |
2011 |
|
Tasuku Honjo |
Medicine |
2018 |
|
H. Robert Horvitz |
Medicine |
2002 |
|
Tim Hunt |
Medicine |
2001 |
|
Louis J. Ignarro |
Medicine |
1998 |
|
William G. Kaelin Jr. |
Medicine |
2019 |
|
Barry J. Marshall |
Medicine |
2005 |
|
Craig C. Mello |
Medicine |
2006 |
|
Edvard Moser |
Medicine |
2014 |
|
May-Britt Moser |
Medicine |
2014 |
|
Erwin Neher |
Medicine |
1991 |
|
Sir Paul M. Nurse |
Medicine |
2001 |
|
John O'Keefe |
Medicine |
2014 |
|
Stanley B. Prusiner |
Medicine |
1997 |
|
Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe |
Medicine |
2019 |
|
Charles M. Rice |
Medicine |
2020 |
|
Sir Richard J. Roberts |
Medicine |
1993 |
|
Michael Rosbash |
Medicine |
2017 |
|
Randy W. Schekman |
Medicine |
2013 |
|
Gregg L. Semenza |
Medicine |
2019 |
|
Phillip A. Sharp |
Medicine |
1993 |
|
Hamilton O. Smith |
Medicine |
1978 |
|
Jack W. Szostak |
Medicine |
2009 |
|
Harold E. Varmus |
Medicine |
1989 |
|
Eric F. Wieschaus |
Medicine |
1995 |
|
Torsten N. Wiesel |
Medicine |
1981 |
|
Shirin Ebadi |
Peace |
2003 |
|
Leymah Roberta Gbowee |
Peace |
2011 |
|
Tawakkol Karman |
Peace |
2011 |
|
Dmitry Muratov |
Peace |
2021 |
|
Maria Ressa |
Peace |
2021 |
|
Oscar Arias Sanchez |
Peace |
1987 |
|
Juan Manuel Santos |
Peace |
2016 |
|
Kailash Satyarthi |
Peace |
2014 |
|
Rigoberta Menchu Tum |
Peace |
1992 |
|
Lech Walesa |
Peace |
1983 |
|
Jody Williams |
Peace |
1997 |
|
Hiroshi Amano |
Physics |
2014 |
|
Barry Clark Barish |
Physics |
2017 |
|
J. Georg Bednorz |
Physics |
1987 |
|
Steven Chu |
Physics |
1997 |
|
Albert Fert |
Physics |
2007 |
|
Jerome I. Friedman |
Physics |
1990 |
|
Andre Geim |
Physics |
2010 |
|
Sheldon Glashow |
Physics |
1979 |
|
Serge Haroche |
Physics |
2012 |
|
Gerardus 't Hooft |
Physics |
1999 |
|
Brian D. Josephson |
Physics |
1973 |
|
Takaaki Kajita |
Physics |
2015 |
|
J. Michael Kosterlitz |
Physics |
2016 |
|
Anthony J. Leggett |
Physics |
2003 |
|
John C. Mather |
Physics |
2006 |
|
Michel Mayor |
Physics |
2019 |
|
Giorgio Parisi |
Physics |
2021 |
|
Roger Penrose |
Physics |
2020 |
|
Arno Penzias |
Physics |
1978 |
|
William D. Phillips |
Physics |
1997 |
|
Donna Strickland |
Physics |
2018 |
|
Joseph H. Taylor Jr. |
Physics |
1993 |
|
Kip Stephen Thorne |
Physics |
2017 |
|
Carl E. Wieman |
Physics |
2001 |
|
Robert Woodrow Wilson |
Physics |
1978 |
|
David J. Wineland |
Physics |
2012 |
Updated: 4 November 2022 (130 signatures)