He did not offer to give his prize to fellow peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.

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Following widespread violence in the aftermath of the 2009 presidential election, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi urged the U.N.

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Shirin Ebadi, Iran's Nobel-prize-winning campaigner for human rights, concedes that she would rather that the fight for women's rights did not involve interpreting musty religious texts.

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The other laureates to sign the letter are Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala, Mairead Maguire of Ireland, South African Desmond Tutu, U.S. national Jody Williams, and Iran's Shirin Ebadi.

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They include such luminaries as the 78-year-old Ebrahim Yazdi, the Islamic Republic's first foreign minister and now head of a banned liberal party, as well as numerous close relations of prominent dissidents, including a sister of Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel laureate and human-rights lawyer.

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