Miss Afghanistan wins special award

Miss Afghanistan wins special award

PHILIPPINES: Denounced and all but disowned by her country of birth, Miss Afghanistan Vida Samadzai has won a special award at an international beauty contest held in the Philippines.

Samadzai, 23, the first Afghan woman in the post-Taliban era to appear in public in a bikini, won the special award "Miss Earth Beauties for a Cause" here late on Sunday, organizers told AFP.

Miss Honduras, 25-year-old Dania Prince, bested Samadzai and 55 other contestants to be crowned Miss Earth 2003.

Samadzai, who lives in the United States, is the first Afghan woman in 30 years to take part in the Miss World contest. The previous Afghan titlist, Zohra Daoud, fled to the United States after the 1979 Soviet invasion.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's minister for women's affairs last month condemned Samadzai, a dark-haired, black-eyed beauty, after the woman's picture in a two-piece red bikini landed in the international press. -- AFP