Ms Ebadi, the first Muslim women to be awarded a Nobel prize, has been away from Iran since travelling to Spain for a conference the day before the 12 June election.

BBC: Shirin Ebadi Nobel Peace Prize medal 'seized by Iran'

In 1982 a rumor spread that Walesa was to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and international journalists descended on his apartment in Gdansk, to be there when the Nobel was announced.

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