<< Ven. Thich Quang Do

The Rafto Foundation honored Thich Quang Do "for his personal courage and perseverance through three decades of peaceful opposition against the communist regime in Vietnam, and as a symbol for the growing democracy movement in the country", it said.

Quang Do, 77, has spent 25 years in prison and remains under house arrest, the foundation said.

Four previous Rafto laureates, Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, East Timor's Jose Ramos-Horta, South Korea's Kim Dae-Jung and Iran's Shirin Ebadi, subsequently won the Nobel Peace Prize.

The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner will be announced on Oct. 13 in Oslo. Quang Do is among this year's nominees for the Nobel prize, human rights campaigner Penelope Faulkner said.