Press Release
6th International Simorgh Peace Prize awards
Kabul-Paris, 12 December 2019
Armanshahr Foundation/OPEN ASIA announced the awardees of the 6th International Simorgh Peace Prize on the final day of the Human Rights Week. In this edition of the prize, Armanshahr lauded “Protectors of cultural heritage and written heritage” resisting war, destruction and oblivion aiming to protect “collective memory” and awarded them the lapis lazuli Simorgh Peace Statute in Kabul.
Winners of the 6th International Simorgh Peace Prize awards are:
Mr. Omran Khan Massoudi, the outstanding historian and archaeologist of Afghanistan, in honour of his courage and a lifetime of selfless endeavour to protect artistic and archaeological works in the National Museum from destruction during the Taleban era. He and his colleagues protected a significant part of Afghanistan’s history.
Mr. Abdul Qadir Temori, graduate of archaeology and director of Civilian Archaeologists Board of Afghanistan in Mes Aynak, the spectacular 2,000-year-old Buddhist city south of Kabul in Logar province, together with his colleagues Messrs Abdulwahab Firouzi, Rouhollah Ahmadzai, Abdullah Nourahmadi, Abdullah Rahimi, Wahidollah Rahimi, Jawid Mohsenzadeh, Khawja Nadershah Ahmadi, Sharifullah Khaja Omri, Nasrullah Haqqi, Imam Khan Rajabi, Hassan Mobarez, Mohammad Rabi Saberi, Fariduddin Haydari, Sarwar Akbari, Mohammad Shafiq Saeed and Hossein Ali Sadeqi; in honour of their discovering of thousands of movable and immovable archaeological works in that area and their valuable efforts to protect those works, which represent a significant part of Afghanistan’s history since the Kushani and Yaftali eras.
Dr. Shafiqa Yarqin Deebaj, poetesse and writer in Persian and Uzbek languages, professor, researcher, translator and author of textbooks, in praise of her lifelong indefatigable endeavour to promote Dari and Uzbek languages and literature, culture, education, and combating illiteracy.
Afghanistan Center at Kabul University (ACKU), in honour of the valuable services of Ms. Nancy Hatch Dupree and Mr. Louis Dupree, citizens of the world, to protect the written heritage of Afghanistan by means of collecting, presenting, classifying and digitalising documents, which exceed 160,000 at present.
Eleven Braveheart men of “Afghan Film”, Mahmoud Baghban, Khawja Ahmadshah, Baqi Zazai, Qassim Karimi,Afzal Baryalai, Habib Mashinkar, Seyyed Mustafa, Seyyed Mojud Hosseini, Razeddin Sayyar, Jamil Sarwar and Mir Afghan, in honour of their worthy services to protect the 90-year archives of “Afghan Film” from burning in Taliban’s fire of ignorance, and leaving a worthwhile treasure for future generations in Afghanistan, which provides a different narrative of Afghanistan’s history, geography and past.
Armanshahr Foundation/OPEN ASIA established the International Simorgh Peace Prize at the heart of Asia (the three neighbouring countries Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan) in 2009. Around 1,000 works were submitted for the 1st edition, during which the laureates were poets and writers writing for peace by combatting war, violence and militarism. In the 2nd edition, independent publishers of Afghanistan, the National Library as well as the Ministry of Culture of Tajikistan – for establishing a large safe house for books and its publishing activities – were lauded. In the 3rd edition, the awardees were musicians who have been winning hearts of their audiences by sowing the seeds of peace and affection. In the 4th edition, women were praised as the true guardians of peace in the three neighbouring countries; women who despise warmongering and stand against it by their persevering civic initiatives. In the 5th edition, the Simorgh Peace Prize theme was “My Ideal City” and the prizes were awarded to children, who offered a clear message in praise of peace and abhorrence for war in their writings and drawings. Five schools in Kabul, Herat and Kandahar provinces were also awarded the lapis lazuli Simorgh Peace Statute.
