- Jan 20, 2001
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Yahoo
The theocrats are cursing Allah. I imagine Bush and Blair are wondering why they didn't win.
OSLO (Reuters) - Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her work defending human rights in an award aimed at spurring democratic reform across the Muslim world.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Ebadi, one of Iran's first woman judges before the 1979 revolution forced her to step down in favor of men, for seeking to improve the rights of women and children.
But Vice-President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a leading reformist figure, told Reuters the announcement was "very good news for every Iranian" and a sign of the active role played by Iranian women in politics.
Nobel watchers say that the five-member committee, which includes three women, probably chose Ebadi as a way of promoting change in a nation once branded part of an "axis of evil" by President Bush (news - web sites) with pre-war Iraq (news - web sites) and North Korea (news - web sites).
The theocrats are cursing Allah. I imagine Bush and Blair are wondering why they didn't win.