How Do We Convince Iran That Stoning Is Barbaric?
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Tehran’s legal codes are studded with inconsistencies and vagaries that make due process virtually impossible

The harrowing case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani – a mother of two sentenced to stoning by an Iranian court for adultery – has rightfully drawn the world’s attention to Iran’s draconian penal code, which reserves its cruellest punishments for women. The practice of stoning in particular is so abhorrent that even political allies such as Brazil have been roused to action. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has offered Ms. Ashtiani asylum, but a foreign leader can have no direct bearing on a domestic legal proceeding. The Brazilian intervention, however, sends a powerful message to the Islamic Republic: Its human-rights record can never be divorced from its nuclear diplomacy.

Before the 1979 Islamic revolution, back in the years when I worked as a judge in Iran, consensual sexual relations between adults did not figure in the country’s criminal code. The revolution enacted a version of Islamic law extraordinarily harsh even by the standards of the Islamic world, making extramarital sex a crime. The punishment for a single man or woman guilty of sex outside marriage became 100 lashes; under Article 86, the punishment for a married person became death by stoning.

On the face of things, stoning is not a gendered punishment, for the law stipulates that adulterous men face the same brutal end. But because Iranian law permits polygamy, it effectively offers men an escape route: They are able to claim that their adulterous relationship was, in fact, a temporary marriage (Iranian law recognizes “marriages” of even a few hours duration between men and single women). Men typically exploit this escape clause, and are rarely sentenced to stoning. But married women accused of adultery have no access to such reprieve.

The barbarity of stoning aside, Iran’s legal codes are studded with inconsistencies and vagaries that make due process virtually impossible. The penal code notes that, if a man or woman is denied sexual access to a spouse due to travel or other prolonged separation, 100 lashes suffice as punishment for adultery, but it does not specify the duration of acceptable separation. Stoning can also be reduced to lashes when a married woman has sex with a minor (Iranian law considers the age of maturation for girls 9, and for boys 15). Read on and comment >>> Shirin Ebadi | Thursday, August 05, 2010

Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian human-rights activist and Nobel laureate.

Shirin Ebadi. Bild: Die Presse
Ebadi: "Im Iran spielt Recht schon lange keine Rolle"
DIE PRESSE: Friedensnobelpreisträgerin Ebadi berichtete in Wien, wie Teherans Regime sie einschüchtern will. Ebadi schätzt, dass 800 Anhänger der Oppositionsbewegung in Haft sind, zusammengepfercht mit Schwerverbrechern.

WIEN. Seit Shirin Ebadi bei der Durchsicht von Dokumenten zufällig auf ihr eigenes Todesurteil stieß, ist sie auf der Hut. Doch einschüchtern lässt sich die iranische Friedensnobelpreisträgerin nicht. „Ich werde nicht schweigen“, sagt die 63-jährige Menschenrechtsaktivistin, und ihr bestimmter Blick verrät, dass sie das ernst meint. Komme, was da wolle. Vergangene Woche strahlte Irans Staatsfernsehen im Hauptabendprogramm einen Beitrag aus, in dem Ebadis Ehemann, Jawad Tawasolian, seine eigene Frau diffamiert. Politisch fehlgeleitet sei sie und eine schlechte Gattin auch. Sogar seine Brille habe sie zerbrochen, behauptet da Tawasolian. Shirin Ebadi erzählt die Episode vor Journalisten im Wiener Hotel Sacher ganz ruhig. Nicht den Anflug einer inneren Erschütterung will sich die kleine, zierliche Frau anmerken lassen. Diesen Triumph gönnt sie ihren Gegnern nicht. >>> Christian Ultsch, Die Presse | Dienstag, 15. Juni 2010

Shirin Ebadi: Human Rights and Civil Society in Iran

«Menschen in Iran wollen Demokratie» : Friedensnobelpreisträgerin Ebadi bittet Uno um Hilfe
NZZ ONLINE: Die iranische Friedensnobelpreisträgerin Shirin Ebadi hat wegen der angespannten Lage in ihrem Land ein Hilfegesuch an die Uno gerichtet. «Bitte helft uns», sagte sie am Freitag bei einer Veranstaltung am Uno-Sitz in Genf.

«Helft uns, den Frieden im Iran wieder herzustellen und das Feuer in unseren Häusern zu löschen», bat Ebadi. Es sei Zeit, dass die iranische Regierung «dem Volk zuhört, sonst gibt es schon morgen eine Katastrophe». Die Lage im Iran soll am Montag vor dem Uno-Menschenrechtsrat diskutiert werden. >>> sda/afp | Freitag, 12. Februar 2010

The Iranian Revolution Grinds to a Halt on the Eve of Its Anniversary
THE GUARDIAN: Thirty-one years ago this week, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran after 15 years in exile. The anniversary is usually marked by triumphant rallies. Not this time: protesters are planning mass demonstrations against a regime they say has betrayed Islamic ideals.

For three decades, the image of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini arriving on Iranian soil to a tumultuous homecoming after 15 years in exile has been a centrepiece of Iran's revolutionary iconography.

It is an event best captured in a famous picture of the late spiritual leader being gently led down the steps of an Air France jet by a man dressed as a pilot or an air steward. The picture embodies the heady mixture of pride, compassion and religious hero-worship the revolution is supposed to evoke among Iranians.

Khomeini was returning to be hailed as a saviour by his fellow countrymen after a wave of popular uprisings that had toppled the regime of the western-backed shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. His guide was playing a mere walk-on part in the historic drama that engulfed Iran that day in February 1979.

But last week, at the start of the annual Fajr festivities marking the revolution's anniversary, that image was the subject of a strange story that seemed symptomatic of the increasing uncertainty surrounding the country's revolutionary legacy, amid the continuing turmoil over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.

The Islamic Revolution Documentation Centre, a state body linked to a pro-government MP, claimed on its website to have traced Khomeini's chaperone as one Gerard Jean Fabian-Bataouche, who it said was living almost destitute in Tehran. The report, based on an interview with Fabian-Bataouche, described him as a former French policeman of Algerian origin who had been Khomeini's personal bodyguard while he was living in the village of Neauphle-le-Château, outside Paris, waiting for the shah to fall in the months before the revolution.

Having taken a liking to the man after learning that he had an Iranian wife and spoke Farsi, Khomeini had invited him to be on board his triumphant flight to Tehran. Fabian-Bataouche had remained in Iran afterwards but had fallen on hard times. He was said to be homeless and forced to flit from one friend to another in an endless quest for a place to sleep.

It seemed an improbably shabby postscript to an association with the ­revolution's founding father. Predictably, the story was immediately denounced as a hoax and within a day, the Islamic Revolution Documentation Centre removed it, citing "serious doubts" about Fabian-Bataouche's authenticity.

True or false, the fact such a tale even saw the light of day betrayed an uncharacteristic lack of official sure-footedness as the revolution approaches its 31st anniversary. The prospect of revolutionary festivities is usually a cause for triumphalism among the Islamic republic's establishment. Instead, with the storm over Ahmadinejad's hotly disputed poll victory last June refusing to abate, it appears to be making them jumpy. >>> Robert Tait and Noushin Hoseiny | Sunday, February 07, 2010

Shirin Ebadi, Iranian Nobel Prize Winner, Backs Fresh Street Protests in Iran
THE TELEGRAPH: Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi has called on her fellow Iranians to defy the security forces and take to the streets this week on the anniversary of the revolution.

Iranian Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi. Photo: The Telegraph
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mrs Ebadi described her despair at the regime's brutality but urged Iranians to show peaceful defiance.

"I believe people should take part in the demonstration," she said. "They should ask for their rights, but they should do it peacefully. Obviously the regime wants people to be violent because it gives them an excuse to crack down. People must not give them that excuse."

Mrs Ebadi, 62, a revered human rights lawyer who was awarded the peace prize in 2003, fled Iran during the turmoil after last June's disputed election. She was speaking from London where she is in exile, ahead of planned opposition protests this week.

Democracy campaigners are preparing to hijack state-organised rallies on Thursday, traditionally a day for Iran's leaders to show their strength. Rattled hardliners within the regime are attempting to intimidate protesters to stay at home: 10 days ago they hanged two men for their supposed role in the post-election unrest, and another nine have been sentenced to die.

Mrs Ebadi also spoke of her frustration at the regime's brutal treatment of Iranian protesters and described its chilling threats against her. Her family have remained in Tehran and both her husband and sister have been arrested and briefly jailed.

She told The Sunday Telegraph that threats have been made against her by her enemies within the regime through her friends who are still in the country. >>> Angus McDowall | Saturday, February 06, 2010

Shirin Ebadi's Interview with The Sunday Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Shirin Ebadi, 62, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her long career as a human rights lawyer in Iran. She spoke to The Sunday Telegraph during a stay in London.

Sunday Telegraph: "Have you spent much time in London since fleeing Iran last summer?"

Shirin Ebadi: "Since the election I've almost been living at airports. Not because of my safety, but so I can travel to talk about Iran.

"I stay in hotels wherever I go because the people who invite me always put me in hotels. I have been living in hotels since I left Iran in June. Obviously I'm tired, but I don't let it affect my work."

ST: "Are you in any danger from the regime?"

SE: "I've never been contacted by the regime directly. But they contacted my family and friends and said 'wherever she is, we can get rid of her'.

"I don't take the threat seriously. If people want to do something they don't talk about it beforehand. Their main aim is to scare me off doing my work properly.

"Obviously, I don't want to make my enemies happy, so I continue with my work inside the law.

"They threatened my husband and my sister that if I continue with my work they will arrest both of them. My sister was detained for three weeks. They were not tortured physically, but to arrest people because of something someone else has done is a form of emotional torture." >>> Angus McDowall | Saturday, February 06, 2010

Iran will Protestaufrufe per SMS bestrafen: Schwester von Nobelpreisträgerin Ebadi freigelassen
NZZ ONLINE: Die iranischen Behörden wollen künftig mit drastischen Strafen gegen Protestaufrufe der Opposition über E-Mail und SMS vorgehen. Auf Druck der Öffentlichkeit wurde dagegen die Schwester von Nobelpreisträgerin Ebadi freigelassen.

Polizeichef Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam sagte am Freitag, Mobilfunk und Internet würden vollständig überwacht. «Diese Individuen sollten nicht davon ausgehen, dass sie ihre Identität verbergen können», wurde der General von der halbamtlichen Nachrichtenagentur ISNA zitiert. >>> ddp | Freitag, 15. Januar 2010

Iranian Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi Gets British Human Rights Award
Dr Ebadi considers the award to be an attack against Iran's suppression of activism. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: An Iranian Nobel laureate will accept an award from a Government-financed human rights organisation in a move that is likely to ramp up the the Islamic Republic’s “propaganda” machine against the UK and further strain relations between the two countries.

The Times has learnt that Shirin Ebadi — the first Muslim women to win the Nobel Peace Prize for championing human rights and campaigning for democracy in Iran — will be presented with the award today by an organisation which annually receives £1.6 million, the bulk of its budget, from the Department of International Development (DFID).

International Services, a York-based development agency which helps disadvantaged people in places such as the Middle East and claims to be “non-political”, will present Dr Ebadi with the Award for Global Defence of Human Rights.

This comes after Dr Ebadi, 62, who has spent the past six months away from Iran attacking the regime’s alleged human rights abuses and electoral fraud, recently had her 2003 Nobel peace medal confiscated by the Iranian Government and her bank account frozen on the claim that she owes £250,000 in tax. >>> Richard Kerbaj | Monday, December 07, 2009

Nobelpreisträgerin Ebadi für Neuwahl in Iran: Uno-Beobachter gefordert
NZZ Online: Die iranische Friedensnobelpreisträgerin Shirin Ebadi hat für den Fall weiterer Demonstrationen in ihrer Heimat eine Wiederholung der Präsidentschaftswahl gefordert.

«Wenn die Menschen weiterhin unzufrieden sind mit dem Ausgang der Wahlen, sollten diese für null und nichtig erklärt und neu angesetzt werden», sagte die Anwältin für Menschenrechte am Freitag in Genf. Die Neuwahl sollte von Beobachtern der Uno oder anderen internationalen Organisationen überwacht werden. >>> sda/dpa | Freitag, 19. Juni 2009

Women's Rights under Iran's Revolution
Women were active in the events surrounding the Islamic revolution in Iran 30 years ago, but the Islamic Republic has been criticised for reversing many of the rights women won under the Shah's regime that was overthrown by the revolution.

Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2003 for her work on human rights in Iran.

She tells the BBC World Service how women have responded to changes in their legal status over the past 30 years and how her hopes for Iran's future lie with women and the young.

The slogan of the revolution was 'Independence and Freedom' and they said that the Islamic Revolution would bring this.
Back then people were really hopeful because they really wanted independence and freedom.

Unfortunately after the revolution, while the country was more independent than before, the freedom that people were expecting did not come about.

Only five months had passed since the revolution when the Revolutionary Council took away all the rights that women had won over the previous years even though the new constitution had yet to be passed and the new president had not been elected.

It was in 1979 that a law was passed allowing men to take up to four wives, another law was passed stating that after a divorce the father would have custody of the children and women lost the rights they had gained. >>> | Thursday, February 12, 2009

Listen to BBC audio: Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi discusses the impact of the Iranian Revolution on the country’s women >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Iran: attaque contre la maison de Shirin Ebadi
LE MONDE: Un groupe de manifestants a attaqué jeudi matin la maison du prix Nobel de la paix 2003, Shirin Ebadi et lancé des slogans contre elle, a annoncé cette avocate à l'AFP.

"Cent cinquante manifestants se sont rassemblés devant l'immeuble et ont scandé des slogans contre moi", a-t-elle déclaré.

Selon elle, ils ont crié "L'Amérique et Israël commettent des crimes, Ebadi les soutient".

Elle a ajouté que les manifestants s'étaient dispersés au bout d'une demi-heure après l'arrivée de la police et après avoir arraché l'enseigne de son cabinet d'avocat qui se trouve dans le même immeuble et écrit des slogans sur les murs.

"Cette attaque n'a rien à avoir avec notre position sur ce qui se passe à Gaza, car nous avons publié il y a deux jours un communiqué pour condamner ce qui s'y passe et soutenir les Palestiniens", a affirmé Mme Ebadi.

"Il s'agit d'un prétexte", a-t-elle ajouté.

Depuis plusieurs jours, des militants islamistes manifestent à Téhéran pour dénoncer les attaques israéliennes contre Gaza qui ont fait, selon un dernier bilan 400 morts palestiniens.

Lors de ces manifestations, qui ont eu lieu notamment devant l'ambassade jordanienne et la section des intérêts égyptiens à Téhéran, des militants islamistes ont scandé des slogans contre Shirin Ebadi. >>> AFP | Jeudi 01 Janvier 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Broché) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Relié) >>>

Iran: Raid Closes Shirin Ebadi’s Offices
CNN: TEHRAN, Iran -- Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights campaigner Shirin Ebadi was briefly taken into custody Sunday as Iranian authorities raided and indefinitely shut down two of her offices in Tehran, she told CNN.

The Iranian authorities never gave her an explanation for the crackdown, and she was later released, she said, adding that there were no arrests in the raid, but the offices remain closed.

Speaking from her home, Ebadi said the closed offices belong to two non-governmental organizations funded by her Nobel Peace Prize earnings: the Center for Participation in Clearing Mine Areas, which helps victims of landmines in Iran; and Defenders of Human Rights Center, founded five years ago to report human rights violations in Iran, defend political prisoners, and support families of those prisoners.

Ebadi said Iranian authorities had no written justification for Sunday's raid, which she described as illegal. >>> From Shirzad Bozorgmehr | Sunday, December 21, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Teheraner Kampagne gegen Shirin Ebadi
NZZ Online: Die iranische Nobelpreisträgerin Shirin Ebadi hat am Montag eine Verleumdungsklage gegen die staatliche Teheraner Nachrichtenagentur Irna und verschiedene Zeitungen angestrengt. In einer Pressekonferenz erklärte Ebadi, die Agentur habe am 6. August einen lügenhaften Bericht verbreitet, wonach ihre Tochter zum verbotenen Bahai-Glauben übergetreten sei. Sie wies die Behauptung als falsch von sich und wollte auch den Autor des Berichtes belangen, ebenso wie die Blätter, die diesen aufgenommen haben. Die Anklage des Übertritts zu den Bahai ist in der Islamischen Republik ernst zu nehmen, weil diese dort im Gegensatz zu Christen und Juden aus ideologischen Gründen nicht zugelassen werden; zudem impliziert sie eine Abkehr vom Islam, worauf die Todesstrafe steht. Teheraner Kampagne gegen Shirin Ebadi: Mit lügenhaften Berichten gegen eine unliebsame Persönlichkeit >>> vk. Limassol | 19. August 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Taschenbuch) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Gebundene Ausgabe) >>>

Shirin Ebadi Threatened with Death
Photo of Shirin Ebadi courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi has described receiving an increasing number of death threats.

They included notes pinned to the door of her office building in Tehran, warning her to "watch your tongue".

Ms Ebadi, an outspoken critic of Iran's leadership, said she had forwarded the threats to the chief of Iranian police.

She said last month: "When you believe in the correctness of your work, there is no reason to be afraid of anything."

In an interview, she told Reuters news agency that Iran's human rights record had regressed in the past two years, saying more dissidents were being jailed and more people were being executed.

Ms Ebadi, 60, won the Nobel prize in 2003 for her work in defending human rights.

She has received death threats before, but in a statement on Monday, she said: "Threats against my life and security and those of my family, which began some time ago, have intensified."

One of the anonymous, handwritten threats said: "Shirin Ebadi, your death is near."

They warned her against making speeches abroad, and defending Iran's minority Bahai community.

The Bahai faith is an offshoot of Islam, regarded as heretical by Iran's Shia establishment. [Source: Top Iranian Dissident Threatened] | April 14, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Shirin Ebadi Criticises Iran’s Nuclear Policy
Photo of Shirin Ebadi courtesy of Google Images
BBC: Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi has called on Iran to suspend its controversial nuclear work to avert what she says is a mounting threat of war with the US.

"Using nuclear energy is every nation's right, but we have obvious other rights including security, peace and welfare," she told a press conference.

Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Ms Ebadi won the Nobel peace prize in 2003.

Criticism of Iran's nuclear policy is rare in the Islamic Republic.

Correspondents say Ms Ebadi's comments represent an unusually explicit condemnation of the government's entrenched policy at a time of mounting tension with western powers.

"We can hear the evil sounds of war drums, however far away.
We don't like it but there is probability of war," she said.

"In the past 30 years there has been a revolution and eight years of war. People are tired and want peace and quiet to lead their lives." Iran nuclear work 'not worth war' (more)

Mark Alexander