Axis of Peace

An Iranian woman, Shirin Ebadi, won the Nobel Peace Prize. This is the first time a Muslim woman has won the Peace Prize, and the first time a Muslim has won the Peace Prize for anything other than making peace with Israel.

As the Post reports, Ebadi was a judge before the 1979 revolution, and has been a tireless activist for women's and children's rights ever since. She survived the Khomeini regime without being executed or shipped out of the country.

In a display of male chauvinism, Orientalism and Western bias (or just poor journalism), the Post barely mentions Ebadi's work. Instead, after listing her relevance to the statistical diversity of the prize (11th woman, 3rd Muslim, 1st Iranian, etc), it launches into a discussion of the criticisms leveled at the Norwegians by those who think the ailing Pope should have gotten the prize. Barely a word on Ebadi's real work, and no support for her struggle to bring rights to moderates in Iran.

The Nobel site has more info:

Both in her research and as an activist, she is known for promoting peaceful, democratic solutions to serious problems in society. She takes an active part in the public debate and is well-known and admired by the general public in her country for her defence in court of victims of the conservative faction's attack on freedom of speech and political freedom... As a lawyer, she has been involved in a number of controversial political cases. She was the attorney of the families of the writers and intellectuals who were victims of the serial murders in 1999-2000. She has worked actively - and successfully - to reveal the principals behind the attack on the students at Tehran University in 1999 where several students died. As a consequence, Ebadi has been imprisoned on numerous occasions.