Imprisoned Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.

Announcing the decision, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Ms Mohammadi, 51, was honoured for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran.

Her struggle has come at a “tremendous personal cost,” committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said.

She said Ms Mohammadi was currently serving a 31-year jail term in Iran, and had been subjected to 154 lashes.

As well as her lengthy jail term, Ms Mohammadi had been arrested 13 times and convicted five times, Ms Reiss-Andersen said.

The award comes after more than a year of protests in Iran spearheaded by women.

Last December, Ms Mohammadi wrote from prison to give the BBC harrowing details of how women detained in demonstrations were being sexually and physically abused.

She said such assaults had become more common during mass protests, triggered by the death in police custody earlier that year of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

The unrest was sparked in September 2022 and spread across the country, with demands ranging from more freedoms to an overthrow of the state.

Images of Iranian women defiantly setting their headscarves on fire and chanting “women, life, freedom” captivated the world.

The authorities have brutally cracked down on the protests and they have largely subsided.

Ms Mohammadi is deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center.

Last year, she was included in the BBC’s 100 Women – a high profile list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.