PREVIEW: Arab Spring activists favourites to win Nobel Peace Prize

By Lennart Simonsson Oct 5, 2011, 2:06 GMT

Oslo/Stockholm - North African bloggers and activists who have used the internet as a tool to foment political change have been tipped as likely winners of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, to be announced Friday.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has had a record 241 nominations to consider. In 2010, it awarded the prize to jailed Chinese dissident writer Liu Xiabo, a decision criticized by Beijing.

The secretive five-member committee is no stranger to controversy. In 2009, the choice of newly minted United States President Barack Obama took many by surprise.

Committee chair Thorbjorn Jagland has said the prize should be 'in line with the times.'

The so-called Arab Spring would fit that goal. The revolutions that have swept the region this year, toppling three autocratic regimes and seriously challenging several others, are seen as the biggest political shake-up of a region since the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.

In Egypt, the region's political heavyweight, the April 6 Youth Movement and its co-founder Israa Abdel Fattah appear on many lists of likely laureates.

Founded in 2008, the April 6 movement is a coalition of political groups that use non-violent means to try to bring about change.

Fattah, who was detained in 2008, used social media effectively to criticize the regime of ousted president Hosny Mubarak.

In addition to Fattah, the committee could also pick Ahmed Maher, another activist who used Facebook to rally support for the April 6 movement.

Another name in circulation is that of Egyptian computer engineer Wael Ghonim, who created the Facebook page 'We are Khaled Said' to protest the death of a young man believed to have been beaten to death by police in Alexandria in June 2010.

Ghonim was arrested during Egypt's uprising and held for 11 days. On the night of his release, he was acclaimed by crowds in Cairo's Tahrir Square - the focal point of the protests - and hailed as a voice of the revolution.

He was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2011.

The Nobel committee could also opt for Tunisia where the wave of uprisings began. One nominee is blogger and university teaching assistant Lina Ben Mhenni, who denounced repression and censorship by the regime of president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali on her blog entitled, A Tunisian Girl.

During the month-long Jasmine Revolution she travelled around the country documenting the protests. Her Nobel nomination has caused controversy, however, with some fellow Tunisian bloggers and activists accusing her of using the revolution for the purposes of self-promotion.

Among other known nominees are whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, nominated by a Norwegian member of parliament who cited its role in promoting freedom of speech as well as publishing information about corruption in Tunisia's ruling family, contributing to the protests that forced the Ben Ali clan into exile.

Kristian Berg Harpviken, head of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), which is not affiliated to the Nobel Peace Prize, says he expects a winner from North Africa or the Middle East.

His annual shortlist also makes a case for the Russian human rights organization Memorial, which focuses on reconciliation through historical documentation, and its founding member, Svetlana Gannushkina.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee - who mobilized women in Liberia to back peace talks - are also cited as possible contenders for their efforts to end conflict in the West African nation.

Sima Samar of Afghanistan, who heads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, was seen as an outside choice.

A debate meanwhile simmered in Norway about the composition of the Nobel committee, with some people suggesting that committee members, who until now have always been former Norwegian politicians, should include members from other countries, academics or even former peace laureates.

After studying the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel - the Swedish industrialist who endowed the prize - Norwegian lawyer Fredrik S Heffermehl said he believed Nobel's will has not been respected, and has written several books about his concerns.

The will includes the key term 'champions of peace,' Heffermehl told dpa during a visit to Stockholm for the launch of a Swedish language edition of his book, The Nobel Peace Prize: What Nobel Really Wanted.

This concept has been overlooked, Heffermehl said, adding that Nobel's concerns about the role and influence of militarism as far back as the 1890s should guide decisions and award efforts to tackle 'global militarism' and promote disarmament.

Nobel prizes are awarded in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, economics and peace. The award ceremonies are traditionally held in Stockholm, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway, on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.

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