12 March 2025
We, Nobel Laureates from across disciplines around the world, call for the full and unconditional release of our sister laureate Narges Mohammadi, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize 2023. Narges was recognized “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”, becoming the fifth person to be awarded the prize while in prison.
Narges Mohammadi was released from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on temporary medical leave in December 2024. We have united at this moment because her freedom remains tenuous and can be revoked at any time. We call for the temporary release to become permanent. Her resilience ignites a global call to action, reminding us that the pursuit of justice and freedom knows no borders.
Narges Mohammadi, like tens of thousands of human rights defenders, opposition politicians, artists, journalists and outspoken opponents of the Iranian regime, was imprisoned on politically motivated charges. She was imprisoned in 2016, and has faced six additional trials adding over 13 years to her sentence. She has continued to be an outspoken opponent of the regime and an advocate for women's rights even behind bars. Her tireless fight for justice embodies the spirit of resistance against tyranny.
Her struggle is not hers alone—it is a shared fight for every woman, every political prisoner, and every soul who dares to stand against oppression.
“The ropes of the gallows will be torn by the powerful hands of each and every one of us. I hope for the day when execution chambers and gallows serve only as reminders of tyranny’s cruelty and as lessons for our pursuit of humanity, freedom, and equality” - Narges Mohammadi.
We stand with Narges Mohammadi and with all those unjustly imprisoned for daring to envision a more just and equitable Iran and call on the international community to rise in solidarity and amplify the rallying cry that reverberates across Iran: “Women, Life, Freedom.”
Together, let us demand justice for Narges Mohammadi and for all those who defy oppression with courage, hope, and an unbreakable will.
We, the undersigned Nobel laureates, demand the unconditional release and the dismissal of all charges against of Narges Mohammadi.
Signed by:
Peace
Oscar Arias Sanchez (1987)
Jody Williams (USA, 1997)
Shirin Ebadi (Iran, 2003)
Leymah Gbowee (Liberia, 2011)
Tawakkol Karman (Yemen, 2011)
Kailash Satyarthi (2014)
Malala Yousafzai (2014)
Dmitry Muratov (Russia, 2021)
Oleksandra Matviichuk, Head of Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine, 2022)
Chemistry
Thomas R. Cech (1989)
Martin Chalfie (2008)
Aaron Ciechanover (2004)
Johann Deisenhofer (1988)
Gerhard Ertl (2007)
Alan Heeger (2000)
Richard Henderson (2017)
Brian K. Kobilka (2012)
Roger D. Kornberg (2006)
Jean-Marie Lehn (1987)
Michael Levitt (2013)
Paul L. Modrich (2015)
Richard R. Schrock (2005)
Hideki Shirakawa (2000)
Sir John E. Walker (1997)
Arieh Warshel (2013)
Sir Gregory P. Winter (2018)
Economics
Daron Acemoglu (2024)
Claudia Goldin (2023)
Sir Oliver Hart (2016)
Guido W. Imbens (2021)
Simon Johnson (2024)
Finn E. Kydland (2004)
Edmund S. Phelps (2006)
Literature
J. M. Coetzee (2003)
Elfriede Jelinek (2004)
Herta Muller (2009)
Orhan Pamuk (2006)
Medicine
Harvey J. Alter (2020)
Victor Ambros (2024)
David Baltimore (1975)
Elizabeth H. Blackburn (2009)
Peter C. Doherty (19960
Andrew Z. Fire (2006)
Carol W. Greider (2009)
Leland H. Hartwell (2001)
Jules A. Hoffmann (2011)
H. Robert Horvitz (2002)
Sir Michael Houghton (2020)
Tim Hunt (2001)
Barry J. Marshall (2005)
Craig C. Mello (2006)
Edvard Moser (2014)
May-Britt Moser (2014)
Sir Paul M. Nurse (2001)
Ardem Patapoutian (2021)
Stanley B. Prusiner (1997)
Sir Richard J. Roberts (1993)
Gregg L. Semenza (2019)
Jack W. Szostak (2009)
Drew Weissman (2023)
Physics
Alain Aspect (2022)
Barry Clark Barish (2017)
J. Georg Bednorz (1987)
Andre Geim (2010)
Sheldon Glashow (1979)
Geoffrey E. Hinton (2024)
Gerardus 't Hooft (1999)
John J. Hopfield (2024)
Takaaki Kajita (2015)
Wolfgang Ketterle (2001)
Ferenc Krausz (2023)
Anne L'Huillier (2023)
John C. Mather (2006)
Michel Mayor (2019)
Gerard Mourou (2018)
Konstantin Novoselov (2010)
Giorgio Parisi (2021)
Roger Penrose (2020)
William D. Phillips (1997)
H. David Politzer (2004)
Donna Strickland (2018)
Kip Stephen Thorne (2017)
Robert Woodrow Wilson (1978)
David J. Wineland (2012)
Anton Zeilinger (2022)
Also Supported by the Following Organizations
Nobel Women's Initiative
PEN America