Iran: Ms Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian human rights lawyer and children's rights campaigner, yesterday became the first Muslim woman - and the first Iranian - to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
She received the award for her fearless defence of human rights in a move apparently designed to encourage democracy in the Islamic world. Ms Ebadi (56) won from a record field of 165 candidates including Pope John Paul and the former Czech president, Mr Vaclav Havel.
The committee said Ms Ebadi, jailed several times during her career and once branded a threat to the Islamic system, was a sound professional and a courageous person who had never heeded threats to her own safety.
Ms Ebadi told a news conference in Paris (where she was not wearing the headscarf required under Islamic law) that it was a great honour for her to receive the prize. She is the 11th woman to win since the Nobel prize was founded in 1901, the first Muslim woman laureate and the third Muslim winner following the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, in 1994 and the late Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, in 1978.
Iranian state media reported the award without comment, and reaction otherwise reflected the split between President Mohammad Khatami's reformist government and powerful hardliners.
"This prize carries the message that Europe intends to put further pressure on human rights issues in Iran as a political move to achieve its particular objectives," said Mr Amir Mohebian, an editor of the hardline Resalat newspaper.
But Vice-President Moh- ammad Ali Abtahi, a leading reformist, said the award was good news for every Iranian and a sign of the active role played by Iranian women in politics.
Nobel-watchers say the committee has wanted to promote the cause of moderate Muslims since the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The former president, Mrs Mary Robinson, who is a human rights lawyer and has met Ms Ebadi in Tehran, said she was "absolutely thrilled" at the award.
"At a time when Muslim women do not want only a stark choice between increasing fundamentalism and western society, this is a wonderful recognition of the importance of a courageous individual woman's voice creating space for others," Mrs Robinson told The Irish Times.
President Jacques Chirac of France said it was "a good choice, an exceptional choice" that rewarded a life entirely dedicated to the defence of democracy.
The European Union foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, said Ms Ebadi was "an inspiration for her region more than ever and for the rest of the world."
- (Reuters/Irish Times)