prof. dr. Shirin Ebadi

Over Shirin Ebadi

Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and founder of Children's Rights Support Association in Iran. In 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. She is the first Iranian to receive the prize.Shirin Ebadi was born in the city of Hamedan [northwestern Iran] in 1947. Her family were academics and practicing Muslims. At the time of her birth, her father was the head of Hamedan's Registry Office. Her father, Mohammad Ali Ebadi, one of the first lecturers in commercial law, had written several books. He passed away in 1993.She spent childhood in a family filled with kindness and affection. She has two sisters and a brother all of whom are highly educated. Her mother dedicated all her time and devotion to their upbringing.She came to Tehran with her family when she was a one year old and has since then been a resident in the capital. She began her education at the Firuzkuhi primary school and went on to Anoshiravn Dadgar and Reza Shah Kabir secondary schools for her higher education. She sat at the Tehran University entrance exams and gained a place at the Faculty of Law in 1965. She received her 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, she began to serve officially as a judge in March 1969. While serving as a judge, she continued her education and obtained a doctorate with honors in private law from Tehran University in 1971.She held a variety of positions in the Justice Department. In 1975, she became the President of Bench 24 of the [Tehran] City Court. She is the first woman in the history of Iranian justice to have served as a judge. Following her victory of the Islamic Revolution in February 1979, since the belief was that Islam forbids women to serve as judges, she and other female judges were dismissed from their posts and given clerical duties. They made her a clerk in the very court she once presided over. They all protested. As a result, they promoted all former female judges, including herself, to the position of "experts" in the Justice Department. She could not tolerate the situation any longer so put in a request for early retirement. Her request was accepted. Since the Bar Association had remained closed for some time since the revolution and was being managed by the Judiciary, her application for practicing law was turned down. She was, in effect, housebound for many years. Finally, in 1992 she succeeded in obtaining a lawyer's license and set up her own practice.She used her time of unemployment to write several books and had many articles published in Iranian journals. After receiving her lawyer's license, she accepted to defend many cases. Some were national cases. Among them, she 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. She also participated in some press-related cases. She took on a large number of social cases, too, including child abuse. Recently she agreed to represent the mother of Mrs. Zahra Kazemi, a photojournalist killed in Iran.She also teaches at a university. Each year, a number of students from outside Iran join her human rights training courses.In 2002, I co-established the 'Centre of Human Rights Defenders' in Iran with some of her lawyer friends and colleagues. The Centres aim is to support political prisoners and their families.In 2003, she was awarded with the Nobel peace prize. In the same year, she established the 'Centre for Cooperation for Mine Clearance', a non-profitable and non-governmental organization. In November 2006, she received the Legion dhonneur degree from French president Jacques Chirac. She has received more than 20 honorary doctorate degrees from different countries in USA, Canada, Turkey and Australia.In 2005, she published her memoir, 'Iran awakening' which is translated in to 21 languages.