HUMANITARIAN

ACTOR

Presented By
Zarrin Tasnim
Student ID: 21268004 1
 Dr. Shirin Ebadi
Iranian Lawyer,
Noble Peace Prize Winner
Glamour Award for The Peacemaker Winner

Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian political

activist, lawyer, a former judge and
human rights activist and founder of
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Defenders of Human Rights Center in
Iran..
 Life
Ebadi was born into an educated
Iranian family; her father was an
author and a lecturer in
commercial law. When she was an
infant, her family moved to
Tehrān. Ebadi attended
Anoshiravn Dadgar and Reza Born in Hamedan, Uiversity of Tehran, Iran’s first female
Shah Kabir schools before earning Iran Law (1969) Judge
a law degree, in only three and a
half years, from the University of
Tehrān (1969)

3
 Struggle in
Professional Life
Dr. Ebadi serves as a
Lawyer
Writer 1978–79 1999-2000
1992
revolution
Judge
Human Rights Activist
Ebadi was After years of struggle, Distributed evidence
subsequently forced to she finally obtained a implicating government
become a clerk of the license to practice law officials in the 1999 and
court and began to do so jailed for three weeks in
2000
4
 Nobel Prize Winner Dr Shirin Ebadi on The Role of
Women in Promoting Peace in the Middle East.
Ebadi was, and is, an Iranian Muslim lawyer who
has devoted her life to improving the lives of
victims of human rights abuses, particularly
women and children in her home country. A
human right is any right considered to belong to
all people, including the rights to life and liberty,
self-expression, and equality before the law.

Significant
Contribution

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 After the death of the ayatollah in 1989, some of
the restrictions imposed by the religious leaders
were eased. Women were again allowed to
practice law, and Ebadi struck out on her own.
She sought justice for those whose rights had
been violated by the government, often providing
her legal services for free. One of her notable
cases involved the murder of a nine-year-old
girl by her father.
While her victory was small—the father was
given just a one-year prison sentence—it was
Significant also significant, as she managed to change the
Contribution custody laws so that fathers abusing drugs or
inhibiting their children's education would not be
able to obtain custody. This change in the law
came too late for the nine-year-old girl, but 6

it undoubtedly helped other children.

 In addition to her work as a lawyer, Ebadi has also
worked as a lecturer at the University of Tehran and
has written a number of books on the subject of
human rights, including The Rights of a Child: A
Study of Legal Aspects of Children's Rights in Iran
and History and Documentation of Human Rights in
Iran.
Ebadi has helped found several groups that work to
promote human rights in her country, including the
Association for Support of Children's Rights in Iran
and the Center for the Defense of Human Rights.
Significant Ebadi has not argued for abandoning sharia as
Iran's legal basis, but she does believe that sharia
Contribution can be interpreted differently than it has been
traditionally, allowing for greater freedom and
equality for all citizens. She has expressed
repeatedly her belief that Islamic law and 7

democracy can be compatible and that human

rights are possible in Iran.
 2001 Rafto Prize
2003 Nobel
for her fearless
efforts Peace Prize

Achievement

2008 Glamour 8

Award for The

Peacemaker
 Ebadi helped found the Defenders of Human Rights
Center, but it was closed by the government in 2008.
Later that year her law offices were raided, and in
2009 Ebadi went into exile in the United Kingdom.
However, she continued to agitate for reforms in Iran.

Exile from
Iran 9
 Shirin Ebadi has consistently used the law to fight
for women, children, and victims of government
repression. The 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner has
led efforts to change Iran’s discriminatory laws
against women, to provide more protection for
street children, and to free those detained for
expressing their opposition to the government. She
has continued her advocacy despite detention,
suspension from legal practice, and repeated
threats to her security.
She represented the family of Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad,
a student killed during the 1999 Tehran University
protests. Her work on his family’s behalf exposed
the link between vigilante groups and highly placed
government officials. This work led to her arrest
A Voice For and detention in 2000.
The Silenced 1
0
 A Voice For
The Silenced

Ms. Ebadi also served as the attorney for the family of Dariush and Parvaneh
Forouhar, who were among a number of dissidents killed in 1998 and 1999. In 2000
she represented women’s rights activists Mehrangiz Kar and Shahla Lahiji, who
were jailed for attending a conference in Berlin focusing on democratization in
Iran. After consulting with her clients’ families, she made the decision to resign
from the case, stating: “Whenever the courts of Iran are prepared to comply with 10

the law, I will withdraw my resignation and again become their counsel.”
Ebadi has led efforts to change Iran's
discriminatory laws against women,
to provide more protection for street
children, and to free those detained
for expressing their opposition to the
government.

Dr. Ebadi has shown us that we can

bring changes by loosing our fear.
She is the voice of her people and
showing the world what is going on
in her country.

"A human rights advocate would be hard pressed to be self–

critical if he or she is within the government; that person should
remain within the fabric of society. I have always been a judicial
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counsel, defending the innocent, political prisoners, women and
children within my capacity. I shall remain as such in the future, an
attorney committed to human rights."
THANK YOU
ALL