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- Dubai 04:25 05:43 12:19 15:46 18:50 20:09
A Norwegian member of parliament said Wednesday he had nominated WikiLeaks for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, insisting the whistleblower website was a gauge of transparency in the world, including in democratic societies.
Jailed Chinese dissident "Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his struggle for human rights, democracy and freedom of speech in China," Snorre Valen, a member of the Socialist Left Party that is part of the ruling left-leaning coalition, pointed out on his blog.
"Likewise: Wikileaks have (sic) contributed to the struggle for those very values globally, by exposing (among many other things) corruption, war crimes and torture -- sometimes even conducted by allies of Norway," he wrote, implicitly referring to the United States.
After releasing hundreds of thousands of confidential US documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, WikiLeaks has in recent months been slowly publishing more than 250,000 leaked US diplomatic cables, earning the website's founder Julian Assange powerful enemies in Washington.
The deadline for this year's Nobel Peace nominations expired Tuesday, with thousands of people eligible to submit proposals, including members of parliament and government worldwide, university professors, previous laureates and members of several international institutes.
The names of nominees are kept secret for 50 years, but those entitled to nominate candidates are free to reveal their picks for the prestigious award, which will be announced in October.
Among WikiLeaks' accomplishments making it a natural name on the list is the role it played in the recent Tunisian Jasmin Revolution, Valen said Wednesday.
"By disclosing the economic arrangements by the presidential family in Tunisia, Wikileaks have (sic) made a small contribution to bringing down a 24-year-lasting dictatorship," he wrote.
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