Three Iranian journalists currently behind bars have received the UN's most prestigious award for freedom of expression.

All three of them women and famous voices of Iran, have been awarded The 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

Niloofar Hamedi, Elaheh Mohammadi, and Narges Mohammadi have become tools of the regime to suppress voices of dissent at a time when female journalists are increasingly under threat in Iran. It is believed around 70 journalists are currently behind bars, that number rocketing since the protests began in September.

Elaheh Mohammadi wrote about Mahsa Amini's funeral, and Hamedi broke the news that Amini died in morality police custody last September. Narges Mohammadi is renowned for her activism.

Amini’s death sparked months of protests in dozens of Iranian cities. This was one of the most significant threats to the Islamic Republic since the 2009 Green Movement rallies that drew millions of people to the streets.

“Now more than ever, it is important to pay tribute to all women journalists who are prevented from doing their jobs and who face threats and attacks on their personal safety,” said Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO Director-General, on Tuesday during a ceremony in New York.

Zainab Salbi, the Jury Chair also said UNESCO is “committed to honoring the brave work of Iranian female journalists whose reporting led to a historical women-led revolution”.

The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was established in 1997. Named after Colombian journalist Guillermo Cano Isaza, assassinated in front of his newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogotá, in 1986, it is given annually to individuals, organizations, or institutions that have made an outstanding contribution to press freedom in dangerous environments.