Candidates for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize include a Russian
human rights group, a Chinese dissident and an inanimate
object: the Internet, people who made the nominations say.
As the submission deadline for the coveted award closed, the
Nobel Committee maintained its tradition of giving no hints -
the contenders are kept secret for 50 years.
But some nominations were announced by those who made them.
Those with nomination rights include former peace laureates,
members of national governments and legislatures, selected
university professors and others.
Erna Solberg, the head of Norway's Conservative Party, put
forth Russian human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina and
Memorial, a prominent rights group she works with.
Gannushkina heads the Civic Assistance Committee, which works
under the auspices of Memorial primarily for the rights of
migrant workers.
Memorial, a frequent critic of the Kremlin, says the
high-profile murder of Memorial rights activist Natalya
Estemirova in July 2009 and the December 2008 raid of its St.
Petersburg office by Russian authorities are among the many
injustices it's faced because of its dogged activism.
"These are people who are at the forefront of human rights
and are putting their lives at risk for their work," Solberg
said.
Gannushkina said in Moscow she felt "embarrassed" to be
mentioned in the same breath as other great rights activists.
As for Memorial, "this is the acknowledgment of Russia's
human rights workers, and this is well deserved," she said.
Kwame Anthony Appiah, president of the PEN American Centre
and a Princeton philosophy professor, said in a statement
that he had nominated Liu Xiaobo, a recently jailed Chinese
dissident, for his "distinguished and principled leadership
in the area of human and political rights and freedom of
expression."
The Chinese government urged the jury to disregard the
submission.
"It would be completely wrong for the Nobel Prize committee
to award the prize to such a person," Foreign Ministry
spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said when asked about Liu's nomination in
Beijing.
Former Illinois Governor George Ryan - now imprisoned after
being convicted of federal corruption charges - was nominated
by Francis A. Boyle, a law professor at the University of
Illinois Urbana-Champaign, for his campaign to abolish the
death penalty.
The Internet was proposed by the Italian version of
Wired magazine, which cited its use as a tool to
advance "dialogue, debate and consensus through
communication" and to promote democracy.
Organisers said signatories to its petition backing the
nomination include 2003 peace laureate and exiled Iranian
activist Shirin Ebadi - which would make it a legitimate
entry.
