Historical Figure
Shirin Ebadi
b. 1947
Iranian-British lawyer, activist (born 1947)
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Biography
Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian Nobel laureate, lawyer, writer, teacher and a former judge and founder of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. In 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her pioneering efforts for democracy and women's, children's, and refugee rights. She was the first Iranian to receive the award.
Timeline
The story of Shirin Ebadi, told in moments.
Became the first woman to serve as president of a Tehran city court. She was 28. Iran had few female judges at any level.
The Islamic Revolution stripped women of the right to serve as judges. Ebadi was demoted to a clerical position in the very court she had presided over. She couldn't practice law again until 1993.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work defending human rights, especially for women, children, and refugees in Iran. First Iranian and first Muslim woman to receive the prize.
Went into exile in London after the Iranian government cracked down on dissidents following disputed elections. Her Nobel medal and bank accounts were seized by authorities. She hasn't returned.
In Their Own Words (7)
In my memoir, I wanted to introduce American women to Iranian women and our lives. I'm not from the highest echelons of society, nor the lowest. I'm a women who is a lawyer, who is a professor at a university, who won the Nobel Peace Prize. At the same time, I cook. And even when I'm about to go to prison, one of the first things I do is to make enough food and put it in the fridge for my family.
From 2006 interview with Ebadi by New America Media editor Brian Shott (translator, Banafsheh Keynoush) about her newly released book, Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope., 2006
I compare my situation to a person on board a ship. When there is a shipwreck the passenger then falls in the ocean and has no choice but to keep swimming. What happened in our society was that the laws overturned every right that women had. I had no choice. I could not get tired, I could not lose hope. I cannot afford to do that.
From 2006 interview with Ebadi by Harry Kreisler (translator, Banafsheh Keynoush) about her newly released book, Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope., 2006
In the last 23 years, from the day I was stripped of my judgeship to the years of doing battle in the revolutionary courts of Tehran, I had repeated one refrain: an interpretation of Islam that is in harmony with equality and democracy is an authentic expression of faith. It is not religion that binds women, but the selective dictates of those who wish them cloistered. That belief, along with the conviction that change in Iran must come peacefully and from within, has underpinned my work.
: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope, '', 2006, p.204., 2006
Any person who pursues human rights in Iran must live with fear from birth to death, but I have learned to overcome my fear.
From 1999 interview., 1999
I, who have defended many prisoners of conscience such as the seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders and others, would face unacceptable restrictions on my human rights work if I returned to Iran, if I were not arrested, now my own lawyer - who also represents many other activists - is detained, and her lawyer has been threatened with arrest for defending her. Where is the justice if your lawyer is arrested for defending you?
About the arrest of .
Artifacts (15)
L'appel au monde de Shirin Ebadi: Ce n'est pas se que voulait dire le prophète
Shirin Ebadi, Iranienne, musulmane, juriste, Prix Nobel de la paix, a découvert la violence, la répression et le terrorisme à ses propres dépens. C'est ainsi qu'elle est devenue une militante pour les...
a character profoundly antagonistic to ordinary domestic life
depression, which had a profound effect on his writing and personal life. In a letter to his wife, he told her that he had "a character profoundly antagonistic to ordinary domestic life", and that...
ought at least to learn the nature and limits of the beliefs she held
tic, but when he later began to think about marrying Vivien, it occurred to him that, as he puts it in his autobiography A Sort of Life, he "ought at least to learn the nature and limits of the...
Iran Awakening: From Prison to Peace Prize: One Woman's Struggle at the Crossroads of History
The moving, inspiring memoir of one of the great women of our times, Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize and advocate for the oppressed, whose spirit has remained strong in the face of...
Iran Awakening: From Prison to Peace Prize: One Woman's Struggle at the Crossroads of History
The moving, inspiring memoir of one of the great women of our times, Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize and advocate for the oppressed, whose spirit has remained strong in the face of...
O apelo de Shirin Ebadi ao mundo: Este nao é o significado que o profeta pretendia transmitir
Shirin Ebadi, iraniana, muçulmana, jurista e Prémio Nobel da Paz sabe bem o que são a violência, a opressão e o terrorismo: sofreu-os na própria pele. Mas toda essa vivência só contribuiu para a...
Graham Greene looked down on us (and perhaps all undergraduates) as childish and...
n while at Oxford, and largely kept to himself. Of Greene's time at Oxford, his contemporary Evelyn Waugh noted that: "Graham Greene looked down on us (and perhaps all undergraduates) as childish and...
The big advantage ... is that at 80 you are more likely these days to beat out e...
tion of its St. Edmund's Ale for him, with a special label in his honour. Commenting on turning 80, Greene said, "The big advantage ... is that at 80 you are more likely these days to beat out...
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