GDANSK, Poland: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah is to receive the very first Lech Walesa Prize to recognize his charity and humanitarian work, the prize’s organizers announced yesterday.
A letter from Walesa to King Abdullah received by AFP yesterday asks him to accept the award for his contribution toward “inter-faith dialogue, tolerance, peace and international cooperation,” as well as for his charity work.
Walesa devised the award to mark the 25th anniversary of his receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize, which he received in 1983 to honor his non-violent struggle against Poland’s then communist regime.
Besides Walesa, the prize committee includes former anti-communist Czech dissident and ex-President Vaclav Havel, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and former Polish Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski.
In 2005, King Abdullah won hearts in Poland when he sponsored a costly and complicated operation at the King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh to separate Polish conjoined twin girls, Olga and Daria Kolacz.
The goal of the 100,000-euro ($126,500) Lech Walesa Prize, Walesa’s aides said, is to “reward those who work for understanding and cooperation among nations in the name of freedom and the values of solidarity.”
