Oslo  - Speculation on the possible winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, to be announced October 10, centred Thursday on human rights activists, according to an Oslo-based researcher.

The Nobel Committee may well consider a human rights activist since 2008 is also "the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Stein Tonnesson, director of the International Peace Research Institute (PRIO), said.

Tonnesson's personal shortlist included two Chinese dissidents, Hu Jia and Wei Jingsheng.

Hu Jia, who has campaigned for democracy and highlighted the environment as well as HIV/AIDS issues, was sentenced in April to three years and four months for subversion.

Another candidate from Asia on Tonnesson's list was Thich Quang Do, a pro-democracy activist and deputy patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam that is not recognized by the Vietnamese government.

Russian human rights activist Lidia Yusupova, who raised awareness about the war in Chechnya, may also fit the bill, Tonnesson said.

Gunnar Sorbo, head of the independent Chr Michelsen Institute, told news agency NTB, that Yusupova might stand a chance since "there are not many peace processes that are going well."

The five-member Nobel Committee advises nominators not to announce their proposals but there are no rules against the procedure, allowing fodder for speculation.

In addition to the Nobel Committee, candidates may be nominated by members of parliament, academics and former Peace Prize laureates. Tonnesson, who as an academic can nominate a candidate, said in a statement in the PRIO website that his own nominee was not contained within his organization's shortlist.

Both Quang Do and Yusupova have won the Norwegian Rafto Prize. Four other Rafto winners - Aung San Suu Kyi, Jose Ramos-Horta, Kim Dae-jung and Shirin Ebadi - went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Two politicians possibly under consideration were Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt held hostage for six years by the rebel FARC movement.

In all 197 nominations have been made for the 2008 Peace Prize, the second highest to date, the Norwegian Nobel Institute said.

Among the 33 nominated organizations was the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC) that has pushed for a ban against cluster munitions.

The 2007 prize was shared by former US vice president Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for their efforts to raise awareness about climate change.

In 2006 the award was presented to Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi national behind the Grameen Movement micro-banking system that has helped millions in his homeland.

Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, endowed the Peace Prize. The award ceremony takes place December 10, the anniversary of his death. (dpa)