Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah is to receive the very first Lech Walesa Prize to recognise his charity and humanitarian work, the prize’s organisers announced Wednesday.A letter from Walesa to King Abdullah received by newswire AFP Wednesday asks him to accept the award for his contribution towards “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 honour his non-violent struggle against Poland’s then communist regime.
Besides the Walesa, his 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, the Saudi king won friends in Poland when he sponsored a costly and complicated operation at an exclusive clinic in Riyadh to separate Siamese twin girls from Poland, 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”.
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