OSLO, Dec 10: Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Wednesday, seized the opportunity to accuse the United States of using the Sept 11, 2001, attacks to justify violating international law and human rights.

“In the past two years, some states have violated the universal principles and laws of human rights by using the events of Sept 11 and the war on international terrorism as a pretext,” Shirin Ebadi said in her acceptance speech, without mentioning the United States by name.

“International human rights laws are breached not only by their recognized opponents..., but ... these principles are also violated in Western democracies,” she added.

Ms Ebadi, 56, received the prize from Nobel Committee Chairman Ole Mjoes at a ceremony in Oslo’s City Hall, marked by the absence of King Harald V of Norway, who was recovering from cancer surgery.

The ceremony was attended by Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Regent Haakon Magnus, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, among others.

In her speech, Shirin Ebadi also commented on prisoners detained at the US base in Guantanamo, Cuba, saying they were “without the benefit of the rights stipulated under the international Geneva conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the (UN) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”.

Chosen for her democracy-building efforts and her work to improve human rights and women’s rights in Iran, the Nobel laureate also pointed to selective application of UN decisions.

“Why is it that some decisions and resolutions of the UN Security Council are binding, while some other resolutions of the council have no binding force?” she asked, pointing to the different treatment of Israel and Iraq.—AFP