Nobel Laureate and EUTCC Patron Shirin Ebadi harassed by Iranian police

 
21 December 2008
Press Release: For immediate release

Nobel Laureate and EUTCC Patron Shirin Ebadi harassed by Iranian police

The office of the Iranian Human Rights lawyer, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and EUTCC patron Shirin Ebadi, was brutally closed down today by dozens of uniformed police and plain clothes without judicial warrant. The target of the raid was the Center for Protecting Human Rights led by Ebadi. The raid was conducted ahead of a celebration to mark the International Human Rights Day.

EUTCC chair Kariane Westrheim states:

“Shirin Ebadi is a peaceful, hard working human rights lawyer and defender of human rights and democracy in Iran. For her tireless and courageous work for human rights in general and for strengthening the legal status of children and women in particular, Ebadi received the Rafto Prize in 2001 and Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. Despite international recognition Shirin Ebadi has been harassed by Iranian authorities for years. The fact that the police closed down her office today without any legal explanation, explains the extreme conditions human rights defenders are exposed to in Iran”.

EUTCC calls on the international community to strongly condemn Iranian authorities’ treatment of peaceful human rights work. Instead, Iran should support the valuable work that Shirin Ebadi and other human rights defenders conduct in the name of humanity.

For further information
Ms Kariane Westrheim
Chair of EUTCC
Telephone: +47 976 42 088

Ms Hege Ekeland
EUTCC project assistant
Menneskerettighetenes plass 1
5007 Bergen, Norway
Telephone: +47 9322736