- Title: Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney possible contender for Nobel Peace Prize
- Date: 26th September 2019
- Summary: UNITED NATIONS (FILE - SEPTEMBER 28, 2018) (AGENCY POOL) (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAWYER AND COUNSEL TO REUTERS, WA LONE AND KYAW SOE OO, AMAL CLOONEY, SAYING: "You know, if you look at the speech that Aung San Suu Kyi made when she received the Nobel Peace Prize, she said, 'I am here because I was once a political prisoner'. And her message was one political prisoner is one too many, and she asked people to help political prisoners wherever they may be. Well that's exactly the message that we have to her now, is to say, 'You know, we have hope that you will do the right thing in this case because these, these are not ideas that are being imposed on you these are your own principles that you've espoused. You know, you fought for so many years to be freed from the same prison where they now sit. And now you have the power to actually remedy this injustice today if you wanted to'. And we're very much hoping that that's what she will do and in doing so not only put these two broken families back together, but also set her country back on a path toward the rule of law, towards a proper democracy, and to start to fulfill the promises that she made to her people when she got into office."
- Embargoed: 10th October 2019 08:17
- Keywords: ISIS lawyer Yazidi Amal Clooney Reuters George Clooney journalists Nobel Peace Prize international human rights United Nations
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: Iran
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00CAYG9E87
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Amal Clooney, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers specialising in international law and human rights, is among the possible contenders for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Amal is of Lebanese-British descent and married Hollywood actor George Clooney in September 2014. She has been involved in various high-profile human rights cases working with former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed and Yazidi survivor of Islamic State, Nadia Murad.
In March, Clooney joined the legal team representing two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar who were accused of possessing secret government papers in what became a landmark press freedom case.
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were convicted on September 3 under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years in prison.
According to the Nobel Prize website, there are 331 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018 out of which 216 are individuals and 115 are organisations. Three hundred and thirty-one is the second highest number of candidates ever. The record of 376 candidates was set in 2016.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in Oslo on Friday, October 11 at 1100 a.m. (0900GMT). - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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