After a short moment of surprise (who please?) I must say I applaud this year's decision. The favourits in the German press were Vaclav Havel and the Pope, but Shirin Ebadi seems to be a very good choice.

The first female judge in Iran she had to resign after the Mullah's takeover due to restrictions of the public role of women. She has been arrested and sentenced a couple of times and is a fearless fighter for human rights, especially for women and children (the males' rights are not that much under pressure in Iran). She is a firm believer in the Islamic faith but a firm disbeliever in its present main interpretation in the Iran.

Ebadi: "As a human rights activist in Iran one is in permanent danger of being killed."
"It is not the Islam that is incompatible with women's rights, it is its one-sided interpretation by males".

No wonder it took the Iranian media hours before their first tight-lipped comment.

Wolfgang