sommaires

Danish Freedom Prize awarded to Iraqi Kurdish MP

COPENHAGEN, Nov 28 (AFP) - A Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament has been awarded the Freedom Prize bestowed by Denmark's ruling Liberal Party, organizers said on Monday.

Samia Aziz Mohammad, 58, a former refugee in Denmark and a holder of a Danish passport, won the prize for her "freedom ideals" and for having "chosen to leave her very safe life in Denmark to return to a life of uncertainty in Iraq", according to head of the jury Carl Holst.

In her speech at the prize ceremony on Saturday, the laureate, who has been a member of the Iraqi parliament since the country's January elections, thanked "the Danish troops who are supporting us and contributing to the establishment of peace and democracy".

Denmark, one of Washington's staunchest supporters in Iraq, has some 530 troops stationed in the country, mainly in the south under British command.

Last year's Freedom Prize went to Dutch member of parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who wrote the screenplay for slain filmmaker Theo Van Gogh's film "Submission".