A German foundation that supports persecuted Christians honored an Iranian Christian civil rights activist with a prestigious prize for her brave and relentless campaign for human rights despite state oppression.
The Stephanus Foundation for Persecuted Christians conferred the Stephanus Prize 2023 on Mary Fatima Mohammadi for her “outstanding courage” and “extra-ordinary selflessness” at a ceremony in Bonn on April 21, said a press release from the group.
“The 24-year-old has not only claimed the right to change one’s faith for herself in Iran, where turning away from Islam is considered a crime. She has also compiled and published information on the totalitarian dictatorship’s persecution of dissidents, including the inhumane treatment of inmates in Qarchak and Fashafoye prisons,” the release said.
Mohammadi was arrested several times and imprisoned twice for a period of time, most recently in 2020, when she spent three months in jail.
The US government campaigned for her in public speeches and interviews in 2020. Christians rights group, International Christian Concern, termed her “the bravest woman in Iran.”
Michael Brand, human rights policy spokesman for a parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, described her faith and human rights as “incredible” and “heroic” and what she suffered, including imprisonment, torture, and ill-treatment, as “martyrdom.”
“She researched the religions and worldviews of other peoples” Brand campaigned for her release from prison.