Speculation is rife in the Afghan capital that Sima Samar, the head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, will win the Nobel Peace Prize this year.
Commission spokesman Nader Nadiri told RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan that Samar is among the top contenders, but the winner won’t be announced until October 9.
Samar, 52, is a doctor and ran a clinic for fellow Afghan refugees in neighboring Pakistan during the 1980s and 1990s before becoming a cabinet minister in President Hamid Karzai’s interim cabinet in December 2001.
Samar has headed the Afghan rights commission since it was founded seven years ago. In 2005 she was appointed the United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights in Sudan.
– Abubakar Siddique
Source Radio Free Europe
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