2003 Nobel Peace Prize

The 2003 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Shirin Ebadi. The prize was announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo on 10 October 2003.

The citation

The citation reads: "for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children".

The laureate

Shirin Ebadi was born in 1947 in Hamadan, Iran.

Why it matters

Ebadi, a lawyer, was one of Iran's first female judges before the 1979 revolution. She is the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the Peace Prize.

The prize

The prize is worth 10 million Swedish kronor. It will be presented in Oslo on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite whose will founded the prizes in 1895.