Aung San Suu Kyi, opposition leader in Myanmar, became an international symbol of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression as a result of her 15 years under house arrest.
The 70-year-old spent much of her time between 1989 and 2010 in some form of detention because of her efforts to bring democracy to military-ruled Myanmar (Burma).
In 1991, a year after her National League for Democracy (NLD) won an overwhelming victory in an election the junta later nullified, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The committee chairman called her "an outstanding example of the power of the powerless".
She was sidelined for Myanmar's first elections in two decades on 7 November 2010 but released from house arrest six days later.
As the new government embarked on a process of reform, Aung San Suu Kyi - known to many as "The Lady" - and her party rejoined the political process.
On 1 April 2012 she stood for parliament in a by-election, arguing it was what her supporters wanted even if the country's reforms were "not irreversible".
She and her fellow NLD candidates won a landslide victory and weeks later the former political prisoner was sworn into parliament, a move unimaginable before the 2010 polls.