Harpviken's top three picks for the award are Sima Samar, a female Afghan human rights advocate with a strong focus on women’s rights and leader of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, followed by the diaspora-based news agency Democratic Voice of Burma and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Ms. Samar was on Harpviken’s top-three list of possible winners last year, as well. He feels she has a stronger chance this year because of the 10-year anniversary of UN Security Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security.
Samar is not one of the 18 confirmed nominations out of the record 237 candidates – 38 of which are organizations – that have been submitted for this year’s prize. But nominations are normally kept secret unless nominators choose to publicize their choice. One of the confirmed nominations is Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese poet and literary critic who was sentenced last year to 11 years in prison by a Beijing court and an additional two years’ deprivation of political rights for “inciting subversion of state power.”
The “so-called incitement” was a call for political reform and greater human rights in China, said Kvame Anthony Appiah, processor at Princeton University and president of the PEN American Center, in his nomination letter. Mr. Liu has been listed as the top pick for the prize, according to online betting website PaddyPower. He has also received support recently from former Czech President Václav Havel through an open letter in the International Herald Tribune backing Liu’s candidacy.
Separately, Chen Guangcheng and Gao Zhisheng have also been nominated with Liu by a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the US House of Representatives, including Rep. Chris Smith (R) of New Jersey, senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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