Iran denied confiscating the Nobel peace prize of human rights campaigner Shirin Ebadi and protested against Norway for making the allegation,the official IRNA news agency reported. However foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast appeared to implicitly confirm that Ebadi's assets had been frozen for "refusal to pay tax." "We are surprised by Norwegian officials taking a biased position with disregard to laws respected by all," the spokesman said in a statement carried by the state news agency. "We do not understand why Norwegian officials . are seeking to justify people's negligence and refusal to pay tax on assets,and are casting doubt on countries' legal mechanisms. "We protest at such attitudes," he said. Norway had said on Thursday that Iran had confiscated Ebadi's Nobel and diploma from a bank box and that it had summoned Iran's envoy to Oslo in protest. Two of Ebadi's colleagues in Tehran confirmed the seizure to AFP and said that Ebadi's bank account where the prize money was deposited was also blocked.
