Taslima Nasrin wins Unesco tolerance prize

A jury headed by former Colombian president Andres Pastrana awarded her the 100,000 dollar (81,000 euro) Unesco-Madanjeet Singh prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence, attributed every two years to people or organisations who have made a special contribution to the promotion of tolerance.

The prize giving ceremony will take place at Unesco headquarters in Paris on November 16.

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Nasrin, 40, a qualified doctor, came to prominence at the end of the 1980s with a series of articles condemning the oppression of women in some Asian countries.

In spite of death threats from fundamentalist Islamists, she has fought for a new civil code in Bangladesh that would put women and men on equal footing and for non-religious education.

Her books have been banned in Bangladesh and she has been forced into exile in Europe.

She has written some 20 books in Bengali, which have been translated into about the same number of languages. She has received the European Parliamentz's Sakharov prize for freedom of thought and the Swedish PEN club's Tucholsky Prize.

The prize was established in 1995 by Unesco and goodwill ambassador Indian diplomat Madanjeet Singh.

The 2002 winner was Aung San Suu Kyi, recognised for her campaign to promote democracy and human rights in Myanmar.