Iranian Nobel peace laureate, Shirin Ebadi

Ebadi, Iran's first female judge who also was jailed on charges of slandering government officials, was praised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for promoting peaceful, democratic solutions in the struggle for human rights.

The relatively unknown 56-year-old lawyer was chosen despite speculation that former Czech President Vaclav Havel or Pope John Paul II might win.

``This prize doesn't belong to me only _ it belongs to all people who work for human rights and democracy in Iran,'' Ebadi told The Associated Press in an interview in Paris, where she was visiting.

She said she was completely surprised when told she had won. ``And then I was very happy and glad,'' she added.

At a news conference, where Ebadi appeared without a Muslim headscarf, Ebadi said that in her view, ``there is no difference between Islam and human rights.''

``Therefore, the religious ones should also welcome this award,'' she said. ``The prize means you can be a Muslim and at the same time have human rights.''

Ebadi said Iran's most pressing human rights crisis is the lack of freedom of speech, and she urged the government to immediately release prisoners jailed for expressing their opinions.

She also said she hoped the award would send a message to the Iranian government, which has been accused of pursuing a nuclear weapons program. The International Atomic Energy Agency has given Iran until the end of the month to prove it has no plans to produce such weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is strictly for generating electricity.

``I hope it will have an effect in Iran. As a person who has actively been involved in human rights, I am against war and conflict, and countries and nations do not need war,'' she said.

Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported Ebadi's win hours after it was announced. Government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said there was no official reaction.

The Nobel committee said Ebadi is well-known and admired by Iranians for her defense in court of victims of attacks by hard-liners on freedom of speech and political freedom.

``As a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, she has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, far beyond its borders,'' the awards 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.''

``I am extremely happy. This is a great day for reformers in Iran. It's great for her and great for the country,'' her husband, Javad Tavassolian, said from Tehran, where she was expected to return from Paris next week.

Ebadi, who is often sharply criticized by hard-liners and conservative clerics, was arrested in 2000, spent about three weeks in jail after a closed trial, and given a suspended sentence. Ebadi was banned from working as lawyer for five years. It was unclear whether the ban was still in effect.

Ebadi

``I'm a Muslim, so you can be a Muslim and support democracy,'' Ebadi told Norwegian television from Paris. ``It's very good for human rights in Iran, especially for children's rights in Iran. I hope I can be useful.''

This year's prize is worth $1.3 million.

Ebadi, who also is known for her writings, was Iran's first female judge, her husband said, and served as president of the city court of Tehran from 1975-79. Forced to step down as a judge after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, she has since been an activist for democracy and the rights of refugees, women and children.

As an attorney, she represented families of writers and intellectuals killed in 1999 and 2000, and worked to expose conspirators behind an attack by pro-clergy assailants on students at Tehran University in 1999.

She is the third Muslim to win the prize. Yasser Arafat won the prize in 1994, sharing it with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat shared the prize with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin for jointly negotiating peace between the two countries.

Former President Jimmy Carter, last year's Nobel peace prize winner, called Ebadi ``an inspiration to people in Iran and around the world.''

``She proves that one person, standing on principle, can make a positive difference in the lives of many,'' he said.

Human rights activists around the world also praised the decision.

``By honoring Shirin, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has recognized the critical importance of human rights and the individuals who defend them around the world,'' Amnesty International said.

Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner called Ebadi ``a courageous woman who has earned the support of all women in the Western world.''

``It's a great victory for Iran, for human rights militants in Iran, for Iranian democrats in Iran,'' said Karim Lahidji, president in exile of the Iranian League for Human Rights and vice president of the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights Leagues.

In Beirut, human rights activist Samira Trad said the Nobel committee ``has made a good judgment. It is good for a woman and good for our area.''

Jordanian human rights activist Rana Husseini said the award ``will promote women's causes worldwide, including Arab and Muslim women's issues.''

Committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes said it was an easy decision.

``This is a question of fundamental rights about women, about fundamental rights of children and mothers,'' he said. ``I hope the award of the peace to Ebadi can help strengthen and lend support to the cause of human rights in Iran.''

The committee also lauded Ebadi for arguing for a new interpretation of Islamic law that is in harmony with vital human rights such as democracy and equality before the law.

The medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace prizes were first awarded in 1901.

The five-member awards committee, which is appointed by but does not answer to Norway's parliament, makes its choices in strict secrecy. It also keeps the names of candidates, a record 165 this year, secret for 50 years, although those who make nominations often reveal them.

In Poland, Solidarity founder Lech Walesa, the 1983 Peace Prize winner, was disappointed the pope didn't receive the award.

``I bear nothing against this lady, but if anyone among the living deserves it, then it is the holy father,'' Walesa told TVN24.

The announcements of this year's Nobels started last week with the literature prize going to J.M. 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 chemistry prize 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 W.J. 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 Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896 in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. The Peace Prize is presented in Oslo.