37 Facts About Shirin Ebadi

Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian political activist, lawyer, a former judge and human rights activist and founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran.

On 10 October 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially women's, children's, and refugee rights.

Shirin Ebadi has lived in exile in London since 2009.

Shirin Ebadi was admitted to the law department of the University of Tehran in 1965 and 1969; upon graduation, she passed the qualification exams to become a judge.

Shirin Ebadi continued her studies at the University of Tehran to pursue a doctorate in law; in 1971, one of her professors was Mahmoud Shehabi Khorassani.

Shirin Ebadi was one of the first women judges in Iran.

Shirin Ebadi used this free time to write books and many articles in Iranian periodicals.

Shirin Ebadi is a campaigner for strengthening the legal status of children and women, the latter of which played a key role in the May 1997 landslide presidential election of the reformist Mohammad Khatami.

Shirin Ebadi has represented the family of Dariush Forouhar, a dissident intellectual and politician who was found stabbed to death at his home.

Shirin Ebadi represented the family of Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad, who was killed in the Iranian student protests in July 1999.

In 2000 Shirin Ebadi was accused of manipulating the videotaped confession of Amir Farshad Ebrahimi, a former member of the Ansar-e Hezbollah.

Shirin Ebadi claimed that she had only videotaped Amir Farshad Ebrahimi's confessions to present them to the court.

Shirin Ebadi has defended various child abuse cases, including the case of Arian Golshani, a child who was abused for years and then beaten to death by her father and stepbrother.

Shirin Ebadi used this case to highlight Iran's problematic child custody laws, whereby custody of children in divorce is usually given to the father, even in the case of Arian, where her mother had told the court that the father was abusive and had begged for custody of her daughter.

Shirin Ebadi was not able to achieve victory in this case.

Shirin Ebadi handled a few cases dealing with bans of periodicals.

Shirin Ebadi has established two non-governmental organizations in Iran with Western funding, the Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child and the Defenders of Human Rights Center in 2001.

Shirin Ebadi helped in the drafting of the original text of a law against physical abuse of children, which was passed by the Iranian parliament in 2002.

Shirin Ebadi presented the bill before the government, but the male members made her leave without considering the bill, according to Shirin Ebadi's memoir.

Shirin Ebadi opposed the pro-Western Shah, initially supported the Islamic Revolution, and remembers the CIA's 1953 overthrow of prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq with rage.

Subsequently, Shirin Ebadi has openly defended the Islamic regime's nuclear development program:.

Since the victory of Hassan Rouhani in the 2013 Iranian presidential election, Shirin Ebadi has expressed her worry about the growing human rights violations in her homeland.

In light of the increased power of ISIL, Shirin Ebadi communicated in April 2015 that she believes the Western world should spend money funding education and an end to corruption rather than fighting with guns and bombs.

In 2018, in an interview with Bloomberg, Shirin Ebadi stated her belief that the Islamic Republic has reached a point of which it is un-reformable.

On 10 October 2003, Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children.

Shirin Ebadi is against a policy of forced regime change.

Furthermore, they suggested that Shirin Ebadi's activities were not directly related to the goals of the prize as initially expressed by Alfred Nobel.

Shirin Ebadi presented a book entitled Democracy, human rights, and Islam in modern Iran: Psychological, social and cultural perspectives to the Nobel Committee.

Shirin Ebadi was the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize.

In Iran, officials of the Islamic Republic were either silent or critical of the selection of Shirin Ebadi, calling it a political act by a pro-Western institution and were critical when Shirin Ebadi did not cover her hair at the Nobel award ceremony.

Shirin Ebadi and stated that although the scientific Nobels are important, the Peace Prize is "not very important" and was awarded to Shirin Ebadi on the basis of "totally political criteria".

Since receiving the Nobel Prize, Shirin Ebadi has lectured, taught and received awards in different countries, issued statements and defended people accused of political crimes in Iran.

Shirin Ebadi has traveled to and spoken to audiences in India, the United States, and other countries; released her autobiography in an English translation.

In 2019, Shirin Ebadi called for a treaty to end violence against women, in support of Every Woman Coalition.

Shirin Ebadi said while in London in late November 2009 that her Nobel Peace Prize medal and diploma had been taken from their bank box alongside her and a ring she had received from Germany's association of journalists.

Shirin Ebadi said they had been taken by the Revolutionary Court approximately three weeks previously.

In 2004, Shirin Ebadi filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Treasury because of restrictions she faced over publishing her memoir in the United States.