Shirin Ebadi

Since the Presidential elections and the widespread protests against electoral fraud in Iran in the early summer of 2009 »the human rights situation has worsened considerably«“ according Shirin Ebadi. The Iranian, born in 1947, is a undeterred advocate of free speech. Her country’s first ever female judge, she lost her post as Chair of the Teheran City Court following the mullahs’ election victory in 1979. She was arrested and survived two assassination attempts.

»If I thought constantly about fear and trepidation, I would be unable to work.« Despite repression and threats of violence Ebadi provides legal representation for political prisoners and people the Iranian regime treats as being without rights. Her ›Centre for the Defence of Human Rights‹ in Teheran has meanwhile been closed down. As a muslim she fights against Iranian women being denied an active role in political, social, economic and cultural life. While Iran is a signatory to the Convention on Human Rights, it rides roughshod over those human rights. »The State is acting illegally«, she says, by applying the death penalty to minors and clamping down on political opposition. Ebadi demands that the West needs to go beyond its negotiations with Iran on the issue of nuclear power to discuss the violation of human rights and government violence.

Shirin Ebadi was awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in support of democracy and human rights. In 2008 she was awarded Tutzing Evangelical Academy’s Tolerance Prize and in 2009 the Roland Berger Prize for Human Dignity.