Winners who were absent from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony

Before the Venezuelan oppositionist Maria Corina Machado, who lives in secret and will be represented by her daughter to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf, other winners were absent from the award ceremony of this prestigious award, against their will or by their decision.

– Narges Mohammadi (2023)
The Iranian activist known for her opposition to the mandatory hijab and the death penalty was in Tehran’s Evin Prison at the time of the award. Her 17-year-old twins, who reside in France, received the award on her behalf and read a speech that she succeeded in transmitting to them from her prison cell.

In late 2024, Narges Mohammadi was released temporarily for medical reasons.

-Alice Bialiatsky (2022)
Ales Bialiatsky, who founded and for many years directed Viasna, the largest human rights organization in Belarus, was in prison when the Nobel was awarded. The following year, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of financing group activities that “significantly disrupted public order.”
His wife received the award on his behalf.

– Liu Xiaobo (2010)
The chair was left empty in a symbolic move during the Nobel Prize distribution ceremony awarded to the Chinese dissident who was at the time in prison. His wife, who is under house arrest, and his three brothers, who are banned from leaving Chinese territory, were unable to represent him.

Liu Xiaobo, a writer and literature professor who was a prominent figure in the Tiananmen movement in 1989 and a fierce opponent of the communist regime, was released on conditions after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in May 2017. He died in July of the same year.

– Aung San Suu Kyi (1991)
The Burmese opposition was under house arrest at the time the Nobel was awarded, but the ruling military junta allowed it to go to Oslo to receive the prize. She preferred to remain in Burma for fear of being prevented from returning there.
That year, an empty chair was placed on the podium and her husband and two sons received the award on her behalf.

– Why Walesa (1983)
Lech Walesa, who at the time secretly ran the Solidarnoske (Solidarity) union, was at large when he was awarded the prize in 1983. But he decided not to travel to Oslo, for fear of being prevented from returning to Poland.
His wife and daughter received the award on her behalf.

– Andrei Sakharov (1975)
Physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in recognition of his efforts in the field of human rights, was unable to travel to receive his award after the Soviet Union authorities prevented him from leaving.
His wife, Elena Bonner, who was also active in defending human rights, received the award on his behalf.

-Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho (1973)
The 1973 Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony, which is considered one of the most controversial awards in history, was held in the absence of its laureates, who were honored for their efforts to conclude a truce in Vietnam, which ultimately did not last long.
Le Duc Tho rejected the award under the pretext of violating the concluded truce, while Kissinger did not dare to go to Oslo for fear that his step would spark a wave of protests.

– Carl von Ossetsky (1935)
The German pacifist journalist was in a Nazi concentration camp when he was awarded the award.
The Nobel was handed over to a lawyer who deceived the journalist’s family and was later sentenced to two years of hard labor.
The opponent of the Nazi regime died in 1938 in the hospital during his arrest.