Call for support for Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate, Mrs Shirin Ebadi

We, the undersigned are deeply concerned about the ongoing harassment and threats exerted by the Iranian authorities against the esteemed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mrs Shirin Ebadi and her family, including her sister and her husband Mr Javad Tavassolian, and the Iranian Nobel Peace laureate's colleagues in Iran at the Defenders of Human Rights Centre of which she was co-founder, which the Iranian authorities have closed.

These threats and harassments by the authorities in Iran have included recently, the unprecedented act of taking away of Mrs Ebadi's Nobel Peace Prize and Nobel diploma (which the Norwegian government protested on behalf of the Nobel committee as marking the first time national authorities had taken away a Nobel Peace Prize ); Mrs Ebadi’s husband has been prevented from leaving the country, and threats have been made against Mrs Ebadi’s sister. Both Mrs Ebadi’s husband and sister have no connection with Mrs Ebadi’s public or human rights work and according to Mrs Ebadi these threats by authorities against her family are an attempt to silence and intimidate her towards ending her work speaking publicly overseas about abuses in Iran.

Mrs Ebadi also reports being threatened by security authorities that she would not be safe anywhere in the world. On false premises of claiming unpaid tax on Nobel Prize money which Mrs Ebadi says should not be taxed at all under Iranian law, accounts belonging to her and her husband have been impounded. This money was being used in part also for providing assistance to prisoners of conscience and their families. Mrs Ebadi also reports confiscation of other awards and properties from her premises such as the French Legion d’Honneur award and a ring given by the German Association of Journalists.

The Swedish and Norwegian Foreign Ministries expressed their serious concern over the treatment of Mrs Ebadi (Norway Post, 11 December 2009 http://www.norwaypost.no/content/view/22891/26/), on 10 December 2009, the same day US President Barack Obama was being awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize: “We were dismayed to receive the news that the Iranian authorities had recently deprived Ms Ebadi of the medal and diploma given to her when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. The medal and diploma have now been restored to her, but her situation continues to be serious. Ms Ebadi is prevented from working as a defender of human rights in her home country and the Iranian authorities have closed the Defenders of Human Rights Centre of which she was co-founder. The confiscation of the medal and the numerous threats directed at her, her family and her colleagues give cause for great concern and are yet another example of the worsened human rights situation in Iran since the election in June this year. Norway and Sweden urge the Iranian authorities to allow Ms Ebadi’s safe return to Iran and to allow the Defenders of Human Rights Centre to reopen so that she can resume her important work for human rights in the country,”

We hope that President Barack Obama, the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize will stand by his fellow Nobel Peace laureate from Iran. We share the concern and wishes of Norway and Sweden expressed on 10 December, World Human Rights Day, for the safety of Mrs Ebadi, her husband and family and colleagues; and for Mrs Ebadi to be allowed to return to Iran and for the Defenders of Human Rights Centre to be able to reopen and to continue its work. We consider that Mrs Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her laudable efforts to promote defense of human rights in Iran. Instead of threats and harassment, we consider the Iranian authorities wishing for peace and harmony in Iran and between her neighbours and among nations ought to consider Mrs Ebadi, who became in 2003 the first Muslim woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, as a national treasure, as most countries and their people would be justifiably proud to be home to such an esteemed Nobel Peace laureate as Mrs Ebadi as one of their citizens.

As the Swedish and Norwegian Foreign Ministers note in their 10 December statement,“Shirin Ebadi is one of many courageous people who use peaceful means to try to increase respect for human rights in Iran. We react very strongly to the treatment to which Shirin Ebadi has been subjected.”