Copenhagen, 10 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) — Imprisoned Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has been awarded the Nobel Prize in a ceremony on Sunday at Oslo City Hall.

Her children Kiana and Ali Rahmani accepted the award on behalf of Mohammadi, 51, who remains in an Iranian prison.

The 17-year-old twins read their mother's speech, which she wrote in Iran's notorious Evin prison.

An empty chair was kept on stage during the ceremony for Mohammadi.

"I write this message from behind the high, cold walls of a prison," she wrote in her speech, and expressed hope that the honour would help strengthen the activist movement in Iran demanding rights and fair treatment from the country's hard-line Islamist government.

"I am an Iranian woman, a proud and honourable contributor to civilization, who is currently under the oppression of a despotic religious government," she continued.

"I am a woman prisoner who, in enduring deep and soul-crushing suffering resulting from the lack of freedom, equality, and democracy, has recognized the necessity of her existence and has found faith."

The Norwegian Nobel Committee honoured her with the prize "for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all."

On Saturday, she announced on her Instagram page, which friends abroad maintain for her, that she has gone on a three-day hunger strike.

"On the day of the Nobel Prize ceremony, I want to be the voice of Iranians protesting against injustice and oppression," the 51-year-old wrote.

Other Nobel Prize winners for Literature, Medicine, Physics, Chemistry and Economics will also be honoured on Sunday at a separate ceremony in Stockholm, presided over by Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf.

This year's awards are each endowed with 11 million Swedish kronor (about $1 million).

The winners were announced in October and are traditionally presented with the awards on the anniversary of the death of prize founder Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist who earned a massive fortune with his invention of dynamite.

Nobel, who lived from 1833 to 1896, donated his fortune to start the prizes, which he intended to recognize the great achievements of humanity.