By Syma Sayyah, Tehran

With great joy and absolute delight, we learned that our dear friend Parvin Ardalan has won the Olof Palme Award for 2007. This award is given for an outstanding achievement in the spirit of Olof Palme, the late Swedish prime minister who was assassinated in 1986.   I have been an eyewitness to her hard and continuous work over the past 14 years, and despite my reservations about some actions, I have always found that she has had the integrity, honesty, honor and independence that places her well above and ahead of some who make the women business a business or only seek fame.

Parvin Ardalan now stands alongside previous holders of the award, freedom fighters such as Hans Blix, Aung San Suu Kyi and Kofi Annan.

The award ceremony will be held in Stockholm on 6^th March.  I am sure you will all join me in congratulating Parvin and wishing her all the best for the future.  May this mark a new beginning for this young lady of our land.

This is the citation from the Olof Palme Foundation:

The Olof Palme Prize for 2007 goes to Parvin Ardalan, who has succeeded in making the demand for equal rights for men and women a central part of the struggle for democracy in Iran. As a result, the women's movement for civil rights and liberties has, to a great extent, spread geographically as well as socially. Despite persecution, threats and harassment, Parvin Ardalan has been persistent in her struggle and never compromised her ideals. Through constantly more ingenious methods, she and her fellow sisters have managed to increase the support for equal rights. The ongoing campaign for a million signatures against discrimination is an excellent example. Their intensive work deserves international recognition as a path to democracy and peace in this region of turbulence and conflict.

... Payvand News - 02/14/08 ...