Oslo: Iranian human rights activist and feminist lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, was awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on October 10, becoming the first Muslim woman to win the honour in the prize's 102-year history.

Ebadi, 56, was given the prize "for her efforts for democracy and human rights", particularly for women and children in her country, which has been under Islamic rule since its 1979 revolution, the Nobel Committee said.

In 1974, she became Iran's first woman judge, but lost that post in the revolution five years later when Islamic clerics took over and decreed that women could not preside over courts.

In a reaction broadcast on Norwegian radio, Ebadi said she was "very glad and proud" and hoped the fame the prize brought would help her work in her country.

"My problem is not with Islam, it's with the culture of patriarchy," Ebadi told Britain's 'Guardian' newspaper in June. "Practices such as stoning have no foundation in the Koran."

Agencies