The son of the imprisoned Iranian activist Nargis Mohammadiwho was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today, says he is “very proud” of his mother, whom he has not seen for 8 years.

“I’m very, very proud of her, very happy“, he stated 17-year-old Ali, adding that the honor is “a prize for the Iranian people,” during a press conference in Paris where he lives with his father and twin sister.

Next to him, Taji Rahmani, Nargis’ husband, said the Nobel prize was “even more important as the Islamic Republic targets human rights activists and tries to silence them”.

“It is also very important that this award be directed towards the interior of Iran, to go symbolically to the political prisoners who are the hotbed of the resistance,” Rahmani added.

He explained that he had not contacted his wife, who is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison, and that he did not know whether she had been informed of her award.

“Getting such an award is a joy but also a responsibility, for the struggle of others,” he said, dedicating the award to all female political prisoners and all political prisoners in Iran.

“Nargis is not oblivious to the fact that this will get her into trouble, but she is taking that risk,” he added.

Rahmani fled to France in 2012 with their two children, Ali and Kiana. He talked about the pain of separation from his wife. “All the families in the world would like to be together. But we know that we have to pay the heavy price so that one day the dream of freedom becomes a reality.”

Vice President of the Center for Human Rights Defenders, founded by Shirin Ebadi, who was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, Nargis Mohammadi has been convicted and imprisoned several times over the past 25 years for her fight against the compulsory wearing of the headscarf for women and against capital punishment.

The 51-year-old activist and journalist was awarded today “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her battle to promote human rights and freedom for all”, according to the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Berit Reiss-‘Andersen .