Iranian female lawyer Shirin Ebadi was awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize on Wednesday at an official ceremony held in Oslo, Norway, becoming the first female Muslim Nobel laureate, said reports monitored in Stockholm.

Ole Danbolt Mjoes, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, handed over a diploma, a gold medal and a check for 10 million Swedish kronor (about US$1.4 million) to Ebadi at a ceremony held in the Oslo City Hall.

The Nobel Committee granted this prestigious award to Ebadi for her efforts in promoting democracy and improving human rights, especially her work for the rights of women and children in Iran.

In her acceptance speech, Ebadi, 56, lashed out at the United States, without mentioning it by name, for violating international law and human rights.

"In the past two years, some states have violated the universal principles and laws of human rights by exploiting the Sept. 11 event and the war on international terrorism," she said.

She noted that the United Nations has passed a series of resolutions, stipulating that anti-terrorism actions are not allowed to violate international law, but these resolutions have not been faithfully carried out.

"Regulations restricting human rights and basic freedoms...have been justified and given legitimacy under the cloak of the war on terrorism," said the peace laureate.

Ebadi, also the first Iranian to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, also condemned Israel for occupying the Palestinians' territories and called for a complete implementation of relevant UN resolutions on resolving the conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians.

Norwegian Crown Prince Regent Haakon Magnus, who was temporarily serving as the head of state on behalf of his father, King Harald V, who was recovering from cancer surgery, and Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik also attended the ceremony.

Ebadi was born in 1947. She was the chief justice of the Teheran City Court from 1975 to 1979, and now she works as a lawyer and also teacher of Teheran University.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2003)