"I am very, very proud of my mother, very happy", said her 17-year-old son, Ali Rahmani, at a Paris news conference also attended by his father and twin sister.

He had not seen his mother in eight years, he added.

"The government is trying to break the prisoners in Iran," he said. "This prize is an award for her struggle in Iran."

Mohammadi's husband, Taghi Rahmani, said the prize was also "an award for all the men and the women who fight for Woman, Life, Freedom" -- a reference to a rallying cry prominent during protests in Iran over the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody a year ago.

"Their voices will never be silenced," he added. The Nobel award "will give them even more strength to express themselves".

Rahmani said it was not certain that his imprisoned wife had been told that she won the Nobel Prize.

"There's a chance that she doesn't know yet," he said.