Iranian woman wins Peace prize
2003-10-10 11:28
Oslo, Norway - Iranian writer Shirin Ebadi, a female human rights and democracy activist, has won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her focus on human rights, especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children.
"As a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, she has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, far beyond its borders," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in its citation.
It said she has stood up as a "sound professional, a courageous person, and has never heeded the threat to her own safety."
The 56-year-old was one of the first judges in Iran and received her law degree from the University of Tehran.
The secretive five-member awards committee, which is appointed by but does not answer to Norway's parliament, gives no hints about its choice. It also keeps the names of candidates, a record 165 this year, secret for 50 years, although those who make nominations often reveal them.
This year's prize is worth $1.3m (about R9m)..
The medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace prizes were first awarded in 1901.
Other awards
The announcements of this year's Nobel awards started last week with the literature prize going to JM Coetzee of South Africa.
On Monday, American Paul C Lauterbur, and Briton Sir Peter Mansfield were selected for the 2003 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for discoveries leading to a technique that reveals images of the body's inner organs.
The physics prize on Tuesday went to Alexei A Abrikosov, Anthony J Leggett, and Vitaly L Ginzburg, for their work concerning two phenomena called superconductivity and superfluidity.
On Wednesday, Americans Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for studies of tiny transportation tunnels in cell walls, work that illuminates diseases of the heart, kidneys and nervous system.
American Robert F Engle and Briton Clive WJ Granger shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for developing statistical tools that have improved the forecasting of economic growth, interest rates and stock prices.
The prizes are presented to the winners on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896 in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. The Peace Prize is presented in Oslo.
On the Net: Nobel e-Museum
- AP