"We are happy that an Iranian Muslim woman was qualified to be noticed by the world community for her activities in bringing about peace," government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh told AFP when asked to give an official reaction.

"We hope that we could use her expert views more in Iran," he said.

But Ramazanzadeh quickly retracted the comment as an official position, insisting he had only given his personal opinion. He said a written official reaction would be given later in the day.

Vice President Ali Abtahi, an outspoken member of the government, said he was "very satified" at the award.

"I am very satisfied that an Iranian and above all a woman has won the Nobel Peace Prize," he told AFP. "It is a sign of the very active presence of Iranian women on the social and political scene.

"The fact that a lawyer has won this prize gives us hope that the judicial system will change its methods," he added, referring to the conservative-controlled judiciary in Iran that Ebadi has targetted in her drive for change.

Reflecting the political divisiveness of the prize being awarded to an outspoken rights activist who has earned the wrath of Iran's powerful religious hardliners, conservative-controlled state television ignored the event for four hours. It then gave it a brief mention at the tail end of a news programme.

The official news agency IRNA also carried a very brief news item.

But when individual reformist MPs were asked to comment, many were unreserved in hailing the selection as a boost to an elected camp that has been frustrated by entrenched hardliners blocking its bid to overhaul the way the Islamic republic is run.

"I hope the people who do not approve of her will now reconsider their position," Sharbanou Amani, one of 13 women MPs in the Iranian parliament, told AFP.

Elaheh Koulaie, another female reformist MP and rights campaigner, said the prize "shows the world community that the democracy process in Iran is going forward."

The outspoken MP heaped praise on Ebadi for "her life of resisting impediments to human rights and freedom".

The deputy head of Iran's main press rights body, the Iranian Centre for the Protection of Journalists, also said the prize was a powerful message to Iran's rival political camps.

Issa Saharkhiz said he hoped they "will learn a lesson of how much the values of people who struggle in favour of democracy and freedom of expression are appreciated worldwide."

Ali Tajernia, an MP who sits on parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, told AFP the prize "makes us contemplate the current process in Iran, where an intellectual like her receives an international award but does not have that status in Iran".

Mohsen Rohami, who was briefly imprisoned along with Ebadi in 2000, said he was "very happy that an Iranian human rights activist has won the attention of the international community."

And in a statement given to AFP by his son, Iran's top dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said he was "happy that an Iranian personality has been awarded such a merit." Montazeri was once Iran's supreme leader-designate before falling from grace.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman could not be reached for comment, Friday falling during the Muslim weekend, and the one conservative MP who could be reached refused to comment.

Ebadi is the first Muslim woman to win the honour in the prize's 102-year history. She was given the prize "for her efforts for democracy and human rights," particularly for women and children in her country, which has been under Islamic rule since a 1979 revolution, the Nobel Committee said.

But on a sour note, conservative leader Assadollah Badamshian branded the award as a "disgrace." He said it was only to be expected that a "so-called reformist" he said was backed by arch-enemy the United States should win the accolade.

Badamshian, whose group is the main conservtaive political movement in Iran, charged that Ebadi was backed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, US President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair "and the other leaders of global oppression."

"Rarely has the Nobel Peace Prize been given to those who have served their countries," he said, noting that slain Egyptian president and "traitor" Anwar Sadat, winner in 1978, was recognised for "betraying Palestine" in signing the Camp David Accord with Israel.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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