Cheers, confusion in Tehran over Nobel Prize award

Cheers, confusion in Tehran over Nobel Prize award

Agence France-Presse, Paris/Tehran

The Nobel committee once again proved the tipsters and bookmakers wrong, naming a dark horse, Iranian pro-reform activist Shirin Ebadi, winner of the coveted Peace Prize in what quickly drew widespread praise, uncertainty in Tehran, and a sour note out of Poland.

In Tehran -- where the reformist government behind embattled President Mohammad Khatami treads a delicate line between a conservative-controlled judiciary and powerful hardline mullahs -- the government spokesman initially said the leadership was "happy" over the choice of lawyer and human rights activist Ebadi, 56, before retracting his comments.

She was the first Muslim women to be named a peace laureate and the first Iranian ever to win a Nobel Prize.

"We are happy that an Iranian Muslim woman was qualified to be noticed by the world community for her activities in bringing about peace," Abdollah Ramazanzadeh told AFP when asked for an official reaction, adding "we hope that we could use her expert views more in Iran."

But shortly after he said it was his personal opinion and that a written official reaction would be issued later on Friday.

Iran's Vice President Ali Abtahi hailed a choice he said showed the active role of Iranian women in trying to shape the Islamic republic.

But in one of her first comments after being named laureate, Ebadi called for the quick release of "many people who fight for liberty and democracy" now imprisoned in Iran, in what was seen as unlikely to ease the wrath she has already earned from the Islamic republic's religious hardliners.

Pope John Paul II, 83, and former Czech president Vaclav Havel, 67, both in frail health, had been tipped the first and second favorites to win the prize.

Havel, a key player in both the 1968 Prague Spring and the 1989 Velvet Revolution that overthrew the Czechoslovakian communist regime, quickly offered warm praise for Ebadi.

"From what he knows of her, he believes she certainly merits it and he warmly congratulates her," his secretary Jakub Hladik said.

Similarly the Rome-based Roman Catholic Sant' Egidio community, a lay group whose work for peace and human rights also made it a top contender for the Peace Prize, conceded it was a "surprise, but a great opportunity for democracy and human rights, and for women's rights in the Muslim world."

"It was a great surprise, especially for the media, because many expected it to go to Pope John Paul II," Sant' Egidio spokesman Mario Marazziti told AFP.

But he hailed a choice he said could help in the battle against terrorism and in "freeing religions and cultures from the tendancy towards fundamentalism."

In Rome a Vatican source said Pope John Paul II would himself send a message of congratulations to Ebadi.

But the pope's countryman, former Polish president and Nobel peace laureate Lech Walesa, was not so acquiescent, calling the choice a "big mistake" in a surprisingly frank attack.

"For me it is a big mistake, a bad mistake, an unfortunate mistake," a visibly annoyed Walesa told television in the heavily Catholic Poland.

"I have nothing against this woman, but if there is someone alive in the world who deserves this distinction it is certainly the Holy Father", he said from Gdansk, saying he would seek to investigate the Nobel committee's choice.

Elsewhere, praise poured in for both the laureate and the Nobel committee in choosing Ebadi.

French President Jacques Chirac, on visit in Tangiers, Morocco, hailed an "exceptional choice", while German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder saluted her "commitment to tolerant coexistence and understanding between cultures".

A German government spokesman also praised the Nobel committee, saying the choice of Ebadi "honored democracy efforts in the entire region" around Iran, which boder Iraq.

European Union foreign affairs envoy Javier Solana said now "Ms. Ebadi is an inspiration for her region more than ever and for the rest of the world," while Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik of Norway, where the prize was announced, said the choice offered "support for dialog and better relations between the Western and Islamic worlds."

Amnesty International meanwhile said the choice of Ebadi was particulary timely now, to "bring renewed hope for those engaged in the daily fight to uphold human rights."