October 21, 2003	Tuesday	Sha'aban 24, 1424

TEHRAN, Oct 20: A group of ulema and theology students from Iran’s theology centre of Qom have hit out at the Nobel Peace Prize win of women’s rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi saying it was part of a Western conspiracy against Islam.

In a statement carried by the Jomhuri Eslami newspaper, the group from Qom’s main seminary said: “The decision by the Western oppressive societies to award the prize to Ebadi was done in order to ridicule Islam.”

The paper did not say how many people signed the statement.

Ebadi was given the prize on October 10 for her efforts to promote democracy and human rights, especially in her campaign to change Iran’s laws governing women and children.

Her reform efforts and her defence of political dissidents have earned her the loathing of powerful hardliners here.—AFP