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Shirin Ebadi:
Nobel Prize Winner
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Shirin Ebadi
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Autobiography :
I
was born in the city of Hamedan [northwestern Iran] in 1947. My
family were academics and practising Muslims. At the time of my
birth my father was the head of Hamedan's Registry Office. My
father, Mohammad Ali Ebadi, one of the first lecturers in commercial
law, had written several books. He passed away in 1993.
I spent my childhood in a family filled with
kindness and affection. I have two sisters and a brother all of
whom are highly educated. My mother dedicated all her time and
devotion to our upbringing.
I came to Tehran with my family when I was
a one year old and have since been a resident in the capital.
I began my education at Firuzkuhi primary school and went on to
Anoshiravn Dadgar and Reza Shah Kabir secondary schools for my
higher education. I sat the Tehran University entrance exams and
gained a place at the Faculty of Law in 1965. I received my law
degree in three-and-a-half years, and immediately sat the entrance
exams for the Department of Justice. After a six-month apprenticeship
in adjudication, I began to serve officially as a judge in March
1969. While serving as a judge, I continued my education and obtained
a doctorate with honours in private law from Tehran University
in 1971.
I held a variety of positions in the Justice
Department. In 1975, I became the President of Bench 24 of the
[Tehran] City Court. I am the first woman in the history of Iranian
justice to have served as a judge. Following the victory of the
Islamic Revolution in February 1979, since the belief was that
Islam forbids women to serve as judges, I and other female judges
were dismissed from our posts and given clerical duties. They
made me a clerk in the very court I once presided over. We all
protested. As a result, they promoted all former female judges,
including myself, to the position of "experts" in the Justice
Department. I could not tolerate the situation any longer, and
so put in a request for early retirement. My request was accepted.
Since the Bar Association had remained closed for some time since
the revolution and was being managed by the Judiciary, my application
for practising law was turned down. I was, in effect, housebound
for many years. Finally, in 1992 I succeeded in obtaining a lawyer's
licence and set up my own practice.
I used my time of unemployment to write several
books and had many articles published in Iranian journals. After
receiving my lawyer's licence I accepted to defend many cases.
Some were national cases. Among them, I represented the families
of the serial murders victims (the family of Dariush and Parvaneh
Foruhar) and Ezzat Ebrahiminejad, who were killed during the attack
on the university dormitory. I also participated in some press-related
cases. I took on a large number of social cases, too, including
child abuse. Recently I agreed to represent the mother of Mrs
Zahra Kazemi, a photojournalist killed in Iran.
I also teach at university. Each year, a number
of students from outside Iran join my human rights training courses.
I am married. My husband is an electrical
engineer. We have two daughters. One is 23 years old. She is studying
for a doctorate in telecommunications at McGill University in
Canada. The other is 20 years old and is in her third year at
Tehran University where she reads law.
Leading several research projects for the UNICEF office in Tehran.
Cofounder of the Association for Support of Children’s
Rights, 1995. I was the association’s president until
2000, and have continued to assist them as legal adviser.
Currently the association has over 500 active members.
Providing various stages of free tuition in children’s
rights and human rights.
Cofounder of the Human Rights Defence Centre with four defence
lawyers, 2001. I am the centre’s president
Delivering over 30 lectures to university and academic conferences
and seminars on human rights. The lectures have been delivered
in Iran, France, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain and
America.
Representing several journalists or their families, accused
or sentenced in relation to freedom of expression. They include
Habibollah Peyman (for writing articles and delivering speeches
on freedom of expression); Abbas Marufi, the editor-in-chief
of the monthly Gardoun (for publishing several interviews
and poems); Faraj Sarkuhi (editor-in-chief of Adineh monthly).
Representing families of serial murder victims (the Foruhar
family)
Representing the family of Ezzat Ebrahiminejad, murdered
in the 9 July 1999 attack on the university dormitory.
Representing the mother of Arin Golshani, a child separated
from her mother as a consequence of the child custody law.
She was found tortured to death at the home of her stepmother.
Proposing to the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis)
to ratify a law on prohibiting all forms of violence against
children; as a result the law was promptly debated and ratified
in the summer of 2002.
Publications
- Books
- Criminal Laws, Tehran 1972. Published by Bank Melli
of Iran (Professor Rahnama; Professor Abdolhoseyn Aliabadi).
- The Rights of the Child; A study in the legal aspects
of children’s rights in Iran, 1987. Translated into
English by Mohammad Zamiran. Published by UNICEF, 1993.
- Medical Laws; Tehran, 1988. Published by Zavar.
- Young Workers, Tehran, 1989. Published by Roshangaran.
- Copyright Laws, Tehran, 1989. Published by Roshangaran.
- Architectural Laws, Tehran, 1991. Published by Roshangaran.
- The Rights of Refugees, Tehran, 1993. Published by
Ganj-e Danesh.
- History and Documentation of Human Rights in Iran,
Tehran, 1993. Published by Roshangaran.
- Tradition and Modernity, Tehran 1995. Written by
Mohammad Zamiran, Shirin Ebadi. Published by Ganj-e Danesh.
- Children’s Comparative Law, Tehran, 1997. Published
by Kanoun (This book was translated into English by Mr Hamid
Marashi, and published by UNICEF in Tehran in 1998).
- The Rights of Women, Tehran, 2002. Published by Ganj-e
Danesh.
Articles
The Child and Family Law”; A series of articles
appearing in the Encyclopedia Iranica. Published by
Columbia University.
“The Rights of Parents”; Article published in
the journal Studies in the Social Impacts of Biotechnology.
Published by CNRS, France
“Women and Legal Forms of Violence in Iran”;
Article published in the Bonyad Iran journal in Paris
on the subject of violence.
Over 70 articles on various aspects of human rights which
have appeared in various publications in Iran. Some have been
translated into English. They were presented at CRC [Convention
on the Rights of the Child], a seminar organized by UNICEF
in 1997.
Articles published in various weeklies, including Fekr-e
Now New Ideas, on various aspects of laws relating to
women.
Prizes and Accolades
- An official Human Rights Watch observer, 1996.
- The selection of The Rights of the Child as Book of the Year by the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry.
- Recipient of the Rafto Human Rights Foundation prize for human rights activities, Norway 2001.
- The Nobel Peace Prize, Norway 2003.
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