Human rights activists from China, Russia top speculation as 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winners

Even mentioning a Chinese dissident as a possible winner brought threatening growls of disapproval from Beijing, which declared Thursday that Hu, a jailed dissident, was not a legitimate contender.

"If the prize is awarded to such a person it would be against the purpose of such a prize," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, adding it should go to someone who has "truly made contributions to world peace."

Until Friday's announcement, the name of the winner or winners is one of Norway's most closely guarded secrets. The secretive five-member Norwegian awards committee won't even say who the candidates are, just the number of nominations - 197 this year - and when the announcement will be made: 11 a.m. (0900 GMT).

Other possible winners include Zimbabwe's former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai; Ingrid Betancourt, the French-Colombian politician and anti-corruption activist rescued from six years captivity by Marxist FARC rebels; the Cluster Munitions Coalition; and the African Union, for restoring peace in Kenya after election-sparked riots.

Speculation is leaning heavily toward a human rights prize because the committee has often linked its award to the anniversary of some significant event. This year is the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.

Coincidentally, the declaration was signed on Dec. 10, the date of the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.

China is in the spotlight amid the afterglow of its successful Beijing Olympics because the committee might want to remind China's leaders that the world has not forgotten its crackdown in Tibet and on human rights activists, including Gao and Hu, both arrested ahead of the games and still in jail.

Hu began by campaigning for the rights of HIV/AIDS patients, but became a brash human rights activist who chronicled the arrests and harassment of other activists until he was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison in April.

Gao is a lawyer who became a prominent critic of China's civil rights.

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