Shirin Ebadi Once Again Urges Against Military Action

Despite continued threats against her life at home, 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi once again urged against U.S. military action against Iran on September 13, 2008. During a visit to Los Angeles to participate in a PeaceJam event, Dr. Ebadi told the Los Angeles Times, "If there is a military attack on Iran, people will forget their differences with the government, and they will defend their country. It will also damage our human rights movement, because the government will expand its powers and limit freedoms using the excuse of national security."

Shirin Ebadi's Life May Be in Danger

According to several news sources, Shirin Ebadi's life may be in danger. Recently Dr. Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate and human rights defender, announced that she would take on the case of the Baha'i leadership arrested in May on security charges and sent to Evin Prison. In retaliation, over the last few weeks the Iranian state media has conducted a smear campaign claiming that Dr. Ebadi's daughter, who attends McGill University in Canada, has converted from Islam to Baha'i. Some sources also claim that state-run media are also accusing Dr. Ebadi of converting as well. Dr. Ebadi has vehemently denied the conversions, which would be considered apostacy or abandoning Islam and worthy of death under Sharia law. The smear campaign is largely seen as fear-mongering to force Dr. Ebadi to abandon her tireless work for human rights within Islam inside Iran and around the world.

Click here to read a statement from the Nobel Women's Initiative supporting Dr. Ebadi.

National Peace Council in Iran

The National Peace Council was formally launched on July 3, 2008 in Iran by Shirin Ebadi and more than 70 other prominent intellectuals, academics, dissidents and human rights defenders to advocate a peaceful solution to the current standoff between Iran and the United States. Found members include Ibrahim Yazdi, head Freedom Movement; Hashem Aghajari, who was sentenced to death but pardoned for apostasy; film director Jafar Panahi, winner of the top prizes at the Berlin and Venice film festivals and Iran's leading female film-maker Rakhshan Bani Etemad.

Below is a statement of support from the Nobel Women’s Initiative. The International Herald Tribune, AFP and Associated Press also ran articles on the launch of the National Peace Council.

Nobel Women’s Initiative Supports National Peace Council in Iran

We six women Laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative (NWI) express our support for the National Peace Council in Iran. Spurred by increasing concerns over the possibility of military attacks on Iran and the consequences for the human security of the Iranian people, the National Peace Council was founded by prominent Iranian intellectuals, academics, dissidents and human rights defenders to advocate a peaceful solution to the current standoff between Iran and the United States. We join with the National Peace Council in opposing any military action or threats of military action against Iran and in demanding a negotiated resolution to the crisis.

With the threat of war more imminent than ever, Nobel Women’s Initiative believes it is imperative for the international community to support the National Peace Council and efforts of the peace movement inside of Iran as they take a more visible and vocal stand against those both at home and abroad who threaten or advocate military confrontation.

We believe that military action will not resolve any of the outstanding and far-reaching issues between the U.S. and Iran. Military action against Iran will only exacerbate the situation, bringing further chaos to the region and worsening the situation for human rights and democracy. Nobel Women’s Initiative shares the concerns of the National Peace Council that military attacks would have staggering humanitarian, economic, and political consequences for the peoples of Iran and the U.S.

We believe U.S. threats of military attacks, regime change, isolation and sanctions against Iran are counterproductive to the cause of democracy and human rights in Iran. Iranian authorities have used the Bush administration's posturing towards Iran as a pretext to clamp down on Iran's civil society with extensive arrests and prosecutions. Scores of women's rights activists and human rights defenders in Iran have been summoned, arrested and sentenced on charges for threatening “national security.” A military attack on Iran would only further deteriorate the situation for women’s rights activists and human rights defenders.

Instead of threatening military action, sanctions and regime change, we urge the U.S. to drop all preconditions and engage with Iran in comprehensive negotiations on the broad range of outstanding issues between the two countries. Nobel Women’s Initiative also supports the National Peace Council as they call on their own government to engage with the U.S. in comprehensive negotiations for a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

Shirin Ebadi and Others Form National Peace Council in Iran

Deeply concerned about the prospects of a U.S. or Israeli military attack on Iran and the consequences for the human security of the Iranian people, Shirin Ebadi and more than 60 other prominent Iranian intellectuals, academics, dissidents and human rights defenders have formed the “National Council for Peace.” The first meeting will be held on tomorrow at the offices of the Defenders of Human Rights in Tehran.

The formation of the National Peace Council demonstrates the increasing priority within Iran to work to prevent any military confrontation.

Monsters and Critics has the first published story on the National Peace Council. More information and statements of international support will be posted soon.

Shirin Ebadi Named Foreign Policy's #10 Top Public Intellectual

In its May issue, Foreign Policy Magazine named the worlds top 100 public intellectuals and then asked readers to vote for those they deemed most worth of top honors. More than 500,000 votes were cast and Shirin Ebadi placed as #10. According to Foreign Policy, "the top 10 public intellectuals in this year’s reader poll are all Muslim. The ideas for which they are known, particularly concerning Islam, differ significantly. It’s clear that, in this case, identity politics carried the day."

Shirin Ebadi: 'Don't Attack Iran'

Robert Dreyfuss has a new article in The Nation concerning an interview he conducted with Shirin Ebadi on April 28.

In regards to ongoing death threats to her person, Dreyfuss writes, "Ebadi is not intimidated, and she continues to represent dissidents and others caught up in the labyrinthine Iranian court system. But she warns that threats and bellicose rhetoric from American leaders and politicians is not helping matters." According to Ebadi, "The most important thing is not to militarily attack Iran, or to threaten to attack Iran militarily. Even the language of some of the candidates in the United States threatens Iran."

Ebadi also addressed the regime change slush fund. "When the United States says that it has allocated $70 million for democracy in Iran, whoever speaks about democracy in Iran will be accused of having accepted part of that money, and of being on the US side," she says. "It gives Iran an excuse for what it does." According to Dreyfuss, she said that all credible Iranian activists have refused to accept American funding, and most of the money has been funneled into radio broadcasts and other US propaganda.

In regards to sanctions, Ebadi told Dreyfuss, "Sanctions damage the interests of the people, and they're not going to topple the government of Iran, because the government has a lot of income from the price of oil because the price is so high." According to Dreyfuss, "the only sort of sanctions she is willing to support are direct, political sanctions that target Iran's leaders, from those involved in the Iranian nuclear program to the country's highest officials. Such sanctions, she suggests, could restrict these officials' travel abroad and could order the seizure of privately held assets. In addition, Ebadi believes, the world's countries could collectively shun the Iranian state."

Ebadi says, "What I mean is that all the countries of the world should reduce or lower the level of their political relations with Iran, so that they convince Iran to improve the situation of human rights. This was you can isolate the government of Iran without really damaging the people."

Of course, she also believes political sanctions should only be used as a last resort. She believes the best course is dialogue. Ebadi says, "Dialogue has to take place at three levels: at the level of people and civil society, among members of parliament of both countries, and by heads of government of both countries. And negotiations have to be direct and public."

Shirin Ebadi Intervenes to Prevent Arrests of Human Rights Activists

During U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour's visit to Iran earlier this week, several family members of political prisoners had gathered in front of the UN office in Tehran on September 3 to meet with her following up on the letter sent by Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi to express concerns regarding human rights abuses in Iran. The police brutally attacked and tried to arrest those who attempted to meet with Arbour. Dr. Ebadi
intervened and insisted that if anyone were to be arrested, she too should be arrested. The police retreated. Here is the link to the article in Farsi.

Dangerous Circumstances for Women's Rights Activists Draws Attention of UN Human Rights Commissioner

I reported last month in my "Iran Update," an email newsletter, that in July, Nobel Peace Laureate and Human Rights Lawyer Shirin Ebadi wrote to the Honorable Ms. Louisa Arbour, the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner regarding the dangerous circumstances facing women's rights activists in Iran. Dr. Ebadi said they have become more endangered than ever before and outlined the cases of a group of "women's rights defendants" who have been sentenced to jail for periods of time. Dr. Ebadi appealed for a United Nations delegation to visit Iran to investigate the situation of women's rights defenders.

The "One Million Signatures Campaign" reported today that Arbour will be in Tehran September 2-4 to attend the Non-Aligned Conference which will be held on September 2-3 at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran. During her stay in Iran, Ms. Arbour will also meet with women and human rights defenders, in an effort to investigate increased pressures on these sectors. The meeting with women's rights defenders will be held at the UN headquarters in Iran.

According to Dr. Ebadi's letter and the Campaign:

"Iranian women's rights defenders have come under increased pressure, as they have stepped up efforts to reform laws that discriminate against women. Activists involved in the One Million Signatures Campaign, which is a peaceful and civil effort intended to collect signatures asking the Parliament to reform laws which discriminate against women, have faced consistent pressure in the past year, since the launch of the Campaign. Recently two members of the Campaign, Fatemeh Dehdashti and Nasim Sarabandi were issued 6 month jail terms for collecting signatures and Amir Yaghoubali the most recent member of the Campaign to be arrested for collection of signatures, spent nearly one month in solitary confinement in the Security branch of Evin Prison, Ward 209. In all 13 members of the Campaign have been arrested in relation to their activities in this peaceful effort and for collecting signatures, most are facing security charges. Other forms of pressure, such as threats, phone tapping, interrogations, disruption of meetings, denial of meeting space, blocking of the their website, etc have worked to thwart the Campaign and its activists in their efforts to raise public awareness about the discriminatory nature of the law. Despite these pressures, the Campaign celebrated its first year anniversary on August 27, 2007, and the activists involved in the Campaign are continuing with their work."