Shirin Ebadi speaks up for Baha’is

Shirin Ebadi is an impressive woman. Nobel Peace Prize winner, practising lawyer in Iran’s courts, and tireless defender of democracy and human rights for the people of Iran, she puts her own safety and security at huge risk and has received not a few death threats in her time.

On Friday I had the great pleasure of attending the launch at Chatham House of the English translation of Dr Ebadi’s latest book (on refugee rights in Iran).

Middle East instability

Most of her speech was about the causes and consequences of instability in the Middle East. Most of the government’s in the region are undemocratic and have bad human rights records. Because of this, the people of these countries feel distant from their governments and generally disenchanted. America, she said, supports these governments and so the younger people in the region see Iran as heroic for its anti-American stance.

Iran - not a good model of a state

In fact, they see Iran as a model Islamic state. But Iran, said Dr Ebadi, is no such thing. It, too, is undemocratic. It denies rights to many groups in its population, including women. Iran has a high proportion of highly educated women. 65 per cent of university professors are women. And yet women’s rights are very limited. Women activists are accused of threatening the national security of Iran.

Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are severely curtailed.

The Iranian government is heavily criticized for human rights violations against its own people as well as by other governments and international human rights NGOs.

To stop young Arabs’ infatuation with Iran, said Dr Ebadi, America must stop supporting undemocratic regimes. And the reality of Iran must be revealed.

Shirin Ebadi also spoke about Iraq and about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians - the latter, in Dr Ebadi’s view, is key to resolving Middle East instability.

Barnabas’ question

I drew on Dr Ebadi’s comment that women activists are accused of threatening Iran’s security to point out that members of religious minorities such as the Bahá’ís are also subject to the same accusation and to ask her to comment on freedom of religion or belief in Iran.

Ebadi’s answer – Bahá’ís denied access to education

Shirin Ebadi, who was clearly well briefed about the situation of the Bahá’ís, spoke about the way in which young Bahá’ís in Iran are denied access to education and condemned this as a human rights abuse. This was one of the most supportive speeches I have heard from the lips of an Iranian who isn’t a Bahá’í.

A year or two ago, the then Iranian Ambassador spoke at Chatham House. He was a smooth speaker and was trying to persuade the audience that Iran was a good place to do business. I asked him about the human rights of the Bahá’ís in his country and he turned white and stuttered and did his best to avoid answering the question. The word “Bahá’í” is something some Iranians can hardly bring themselves to utter - and the Ambassador was clearly in this category.

But not Shirin Ebadi!

I was happy to be able to shake hands with her after her speech and to thank her for all her work.

[Original photo © Shahram Sharif]

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, human rights, Shirin Ebadi, Chatham House

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