PHA-Exch> Human rights in Iran

[Claudio Schuftan]

Shirin Ebadi is the first Iranian to have been awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her outspoken campaigns for
human rights and democracy in her own country of Iran.

Shirin Ebadi was born in the city of Hamedan, Iran in 1947. Her family were
academics and practising Muslims. Shirin Ebadi gradutated from Tehran
University and went onto become Iran's first female judge, serving from
1975. However after the Islamic revolution of 1979 she was forced to resign,
as women were no longer allowed to serve as judges.

During a long period of unemployment Shirin wrote many books and articles on
issues of human rights. In 1992 Shirin finally obtained a lawyers
certificate enabling her to set up her own practice, she has defended many
victims of child abuse and murder. Shirin Ebadi has also established two
non-governmental organizations in Iran, the Iranian Society for Protecting
the Rights of the Child and the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights.

Shirin has a quite and soft spoken nature but this belies her stubborness
and unwillingness to be silenced on politically sensitive legal cases. Her
work for human rights in Iran have won her admiration and respect from
humanitarian bodies across the globe. However in Iran her promotion of human
rights issues and politically sensitive issues have led to clashes with the
conservative judiciary. In 2000 she was given a suspended jail sentence for
promoting evidence that prominent conservative leaders were instigating
attacks on pro reform leaders.

Shirin Ebadi is currently married with two children. As well as the Nobel
Peace Prize she has been given other awards as well.

The Iranian Human Rights Defender's Center, ran by the nobel peace prize
winner Shirin Ebadi and colleagues, was closed down by Iranian government
authorities on Sunday 21 December 2008. Please join in calls for its
re-opening, so that victims of human rights relying on the Center for their
defence may not lose their only lifeline to justice.

*Please sign the online petition

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/424/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1787
*
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