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New dialogue award goes to Iranian ex-president
Controversial selection for intercultural award draws both praise and criticism from international experts and politicians
Former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami and Iranian philosopher Dariush Shayegan are the recipients of the first ever Global Dialogue Prize – a selection that has awoken controversy among many human rights organisations and politicians.
The award carries with it a 500,000 kroner cash prize and is sponsored by Aarhus University, the City of Aarhus, the Poul Due Jensens Foundation at Grundfos, and tourist agency VisitAarhus Events.
According to the award’s website, the prize goes to ‘scholars and researchers in the humanities and other fields of scholarship and science relevant to intercultural value research...and acknowledges outstanding achievements in the advancement and application of intercultural value research’.
An international committee of 12 scientists from five continents was on the judging panel. But their selection has raised the eyebrows of many because Khatami was the president of a Muslim theocracy in Iran from 1997 to 2005.
Politicians from the government Liberals and Conservatives have criticised the selection, arguing that Khatami’s government did not advocate freedom or human rights. From the Iranian side, however, the selection was generally praised, as most media and researchers argued it would encourage greater openness, democracy and freedom.
Both Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen, University of Aarhus president, and city mayor Nicolai Wammen stated they had no intention of interfering in the jury selection.
Committee spokesman Fred Dallmayr, a professor at the University of Notre Dame in the US, said Khatami and Shayegan were chosen for the award because of their efforts in spite of the limitations they were subjected to under the Iranian regime, which was actually under the control of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Global Dialogue Prize will be handed over to the two recipients at the Aarhus Music Hall in January.
The Copenhagen Post
