Shirin Ebadi

Nobel Peace Laureate 2003

Region(s): Middle East
Country of focus: Iran

Details

Current Occupation: Nobel Peace Laureate 2003
Organization/Institution: Nobel Women's Initiative
Language: Persian, English

Media

Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi: ‘If we don’t unite—we won’t be able to topple the Islamic Republic’  Atlantic Council Sep 20, 2023

Nobel laureate Ebadi says Iran’s ‘revolutionary process’ is irreversible Reuters Feb 3, 2023

‘Iran’s government has committed unpardonable acts,’ says Shirin Ebadi France24 Nov 22, 2022

Shirin Ebadi on the legal obstacles Iran’s protesters face The Economist Nov 16, 2022

‘Iran will be democratic one day’: Shirin Ebadi Deutsche Welle Oct 22, 2022

“They Want a Democracy”: Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi on Protests, Regime’s Future  Democracy Now Oct 20, 2022

Shirin Ebadi: Women will open the gate to democracy in Iran Amanpour CNN Oct 7, 2022

‘Democracy in Iran will arrive through women’ +972 Magazine Oct 6, 2022

Shirin Ebadi: “Non solo contro il velo. Il mio Iran protesta per abbattere il regime” il Fatto Quotidiano Sep 30, 2022

Iran’s protesters chant from buildings amid crackdown AP Sep 29, 2022

Prominent Iranian activist hopes for revolution Deutsche Welle Sep 28, 2022

Why Tehran is Rolling Out the Red Carpet for the UN’s Sanctions Rapporteur IranWire Apr 25, 2022

A conversation about Narges Mohammadi, and prison trauma due to torture Pen Norway video Jan 26, 2022

Opinion: I thought the Iranian Revolution would bring freedom. I was wrong. Washington Post Feb 25, 2020

Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi slams repression in Iran, ‘unprecedented’ since 1979 France24 interview video Dec 4, 2019

Shirin Ebadi – Other resources NobelPrize.org

Shirin Ebadi was awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote human rights – in particular, the rights of women, children, and political prisoners in Iran. She is the first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Shirin was one of the first female judges in Iran and was the first Iranian woman to achieve Chief Justice status. She and other women judges were dismissed after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Since obtaining her lawyer’s license in 1992, Shirin has taken on many controversial cases defending political dissidents and as a result has been arrested numerous times. She established the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran and other nongovernmental organizations, including the One Million Signatures Campaign demanding an end to Iranian law that legalizes discrimination against women.

She has written five books, including Until We Are Free: My Fight for Human Rights in Iran (2016), made into a feature film in 2020. The Human Rights Film Festival bestowed its Honorary Award for Freedom and Democracy to her in October, 2022, to show solidarity with protests in Iran sparked by student Jina Mahsa Amini’s death.

In January 2006, along with sister Nobel laureate Jody Williams, Shirin took the lead in establishing the Nobel Women’s Initiative to magnify the power and visibility of women working in countries around the world for peace, justice and equality.