Posts Tagged 'Shirin Ebadi'
Shirin Ebadi biopic: Until We Are Free
On 27 August 2020 Bezinga reported that award-winning producer and voiceover actor Laurel Harris narrates "Shirin Ebadi: Until We Are Free", world premier at Venice International Film Festival. Harris also narrated "The Dalai Lama – Scientist," a PeaceJam Nobel Legacy Film Series Doc, which Won over 50 Film Fest Awards.
"Shirin Ebadi: Until We Are Free", is directed by Dawn Gifford Engle – one of only 28 feature length films selected for the Venice International Film Festival's Gap Financing Market. The film hosts its World Premiere virtually on 2 September 2020. The film tells the story of Shirin Ebadi's struggle for women's rights and human rights in Iran.
Harris says, "It's been an honor to work with many remarkable Nobel Peace Laureates, including the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Shirin Ebadi, as part of the PeaceJam Nobel Legacy film series and to lend my voice to Shirin's story of fighting for women and children to be treated with basic human dignities."
https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/20/08/p17263858/award-winning-producer-and-voiceover-actor-laurel-harris-narrates-shirin-ebadi-until-we-are-free-w
Tags: Bezinga, biopic, Documentary film, film, Iran, Laurel Harris, Nobel Peace Prize, PeaceJam Nobel Legacy film series, Shirin "Ebadi: Until We Are Free" (film), Shirin Ebadi, Venice International Film Festival
Iranian Human Rights Defenders in trouble
On 21 September 2018 the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH/ OMCT) petitioned the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to seek the release of Iranian human rights lawyer Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh. Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent defender and 2012 laureate of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize, was arrested on June 13, 2018 at her home in Tehran. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/08/30/human-rights-defender-nasrin-sotoudeh-on-hunger-strike-in-iran/ ].. On September 16, 2018, Ms. Sotoudeh was informed that she would be denied her family visitation rights if she and her female visitors – including her daughter – did not wear a full hijab. Ms Sotoudeh has refused the condition and was denied the right to see her daughter on September 17, 2018.
The Observatory urges the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ms. Sotoudeh and to cease all acts of harassment and other abuses against her and all human rights defenders in Iran, in accordance with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and with international human rights standards and international instruments to which Iran is a State party.
The semi-official ISNA news agency reported on Thursday 27 September that another human rights defender, Narges Mohammadi, has been granted a three-day leave from prison to visit her ailing father.
However, the recent terror attack in Iran may be expected to prompt the Guards to compensate by cracking down on domestic detractors and perceived opponents of their mission of defending and principles of the Islamic revolution. Certainly, some prominent figures within the Iranian activist and expatriate communities have been quick to raise alarms about the likelihood of this outcome. For instance, the Center for Human Rights in Iran quoted the Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi as saying of last Saturday's attack, "Such actions lead to the justification of state violence and the arrest of many opponents in the name of fighting terrorism." Meanwhile activists echoed the sentiment, saying, "Terrorism and violence in any form should be condemned in the strongest terms [but] such acts of violence should not become an excuse for state violence to suppress peaceful opposition."
https://www.fidh.org/en/issues/human-rights-defenders/iran-the-observatory-petitions-un-body-over-the-ongoing-detention-of
https://www.france24.com/en/20180927-iran-rights-activist-out-three-day-prison-leave
https://irannewsupdate.com/news/human-rights/5353-more-warnings-of-possible-crackdown-by-revolutionary-guards-after-terror-attack.html
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Center for Human Rights in Iran, hijab, Hunger strike, illegal detention, Iran, Narges Mohammadi, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Shirin Ebadi, terrorist attacks, woman human rights defender
Dreams about a referendum to end the mullahs' regime in Iran?
on 13 February, 2018 carries an article: "Calls in Iran for UN-Sponsored Referendum"
Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi. (AFP)
Following calls by Iran's President Hassan Rouhani to hold a popular referendum to end political gridlock within the country, 15 prominent human rights defenders and activists from several groups issued Monday a statement demanding that a referendum indeed be held in the country , but adding that it should be done under the sponsorship of the United Nations. [Rouhani had originally made the proposal to hold a popular referendum during a speech marking the 39th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on Sunday.]
One of the signatories, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the activists' statement is an answer to the popular demands and calls voiced by demonstrators in the last protests that erupted across Iran against the dire internal situation "Iranians want to peacefully transfer authority from a Wilayet el-Faqih regime to a secular parliamentary democratic system," she said. The activists' statement had accused the authority of exploiting religion, hiding behind religious concepts, ignoring public opinion, violating people's rights and freedoms and being greatly incapable of solving the political, social and economic crises in the country. However, Ebadi said that the activists' statement was "independent" from the president's speech.
She said that the 15 activists who signed the statement include Iranian film directors Jafar Panahi and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, lawyer Nisreen Stouda, of Iran's Human Rights Defenders Center in Tehran, lawyer Narges Mohammadi, political activist Hassan Shariatmadari, political figure Abulfadl Qadiani and human rights activist Mohammad Nourizad.
Interesting to note is that at the same time there was a conference in Tehran (as reported by the Tehran Times) in which Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary of the High Council for Human Rights in Iran, has said that Iran is seeking close cooperation with the United Nations on issues related to human rights. "Islamic Republic is willing to work with international HR bodies, especially Human Rights Council," Larijani told the conference attended by a number of foreign diplomats based in Tehran.
According to the newspaper .."Double standards and selective approaches should be avoided in the area of the human rights. The special rapporteurs are obliged to be professional and neutral and avoid their political motivations affect their mission. Unfortunately, the special rapporteurs to Iran have mostly refrained to respect these principles and made claims far from realities. The special rapporteurs should have methodology and should not simply publish what they receive from unreliable sources. There are impediments to hold a constructive talks on the issue of human rights at the international level. The first impediment is double standards which are destructive. The second is using the human rights as tool to reach political motivations and the third is terrorism and supporting terrorists as defenders of human rights.
See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2014/02/02/larijani-brothers-iran-attack-un-rapporteur-and-human-rights-defenders/
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1173806/calls-iran-un-sponsored-referendum
http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/421204/Tehran-says-seeking-co-op-with-UN-on-human-rights
Posted in Human Rights Defenders, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: civil rights activists, Hassan Shariatmadari, Human Rights Defenders, Iran, Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Javad Larijani, Mohammad Nourizad, Narges Mohammadi, Nisreen Stouda, referendum, Shirin Ebadi, statement, UN Special Rapporteur
Women Nobel Laureates ask to fight fundamentalism in all its guises
On 16 May 2017 Jennifer Allsopp reported for 50.50 from the second day of the Nobel Women's Initiative conference at the historic Kaiser-Friedrich-Halle in Mönchengladbach, Germany. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2015/04/20/nobel-womens-initiative-defending-the-defenders-24-26-april-2015/]
Women human rights defenders meet at the 2017 Nobel Women's Initiative Conference. Credit: author.
Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Shirini Ebadi and Tawakkol Karman have come to address the 900 attendees about their work fighting totalitarianism and fundamentalism in its many global guises in order to build a more peaceful just and equal world. The public event took place on the final evening of the sixth international conference of the Nobel Women's Initiative. Over the last three days, more than 50 women human rights defenders have been in Mönchengladbach to discuss the future of the feminist movement in collaboration with Initiativikreis Mönchengladbach.
The global response to refugees has been a key theme of the conference over the past three days and is a concern of all the laureates. One of the reasons the delegates decided to hold the conference in Germany was to come and congratulate Germany for its policies, explained Tawakko Karman, Yemeni human rights activist and 2011 Nobel Peace laureate. Since the beginning of the so-called 'refugee crisis' in Europe, Germany has welcomed more than one million refugees, more than any other country in Europe. For 2016 and 2017 alone, the government has set aside 28.7 billioneuros of funding for their accommodation and integration.
….Many of the young people here have been politicised to defend human rights more broadly because of personal experiences of getting to know refugees in Germany. It heartens me because I know this experience will stay with them for life. I saw the same transformation time and time again myself as a national coordinator with the UK NGO Student Action for Refugees which supports students to set up volunteering and campaigning projects in their local communities. But unlike Germany, the UK – and other countries who are now turning their backs on refugees – are training the next generation to look inwards rather than out. They're turning away from fostering international consciousness among citizens. This Jody Williams, who won the 1997 Nobel Peace prize for her work to ban antipersonnel landmines, has repeated over the last three days, is "the real fake news".
Germany's decision to welcome refugees has nevertheless not come without challenges, especially in terms of the far right explains Brigitte Schuster, a German teacher who has come along to hear the Nobel laureates speak. She teaches as part of a network of state funded programmes run by BAMF (the Federal for Migration and Refugees). Despite some "teething problems" in the provision of services, Bridgette insists, people are nevertheless now moving forward with their lives. They are contributing a lot to the community, she explains, including through sharing their stories and fostering consciousness of totalitarianism in other parts of the world.
After the event in the foyer the laureates message appears to have got through. Attendees have been issued a call to action. The laureates have thanked the German people for welcoming refugees but also asked them to keep up the pressure on the totalitarian regimes that they have fled and to fix the gaps in their own democracies. Tawakkol Karman, Yemeni human rights activist has called on those present not to victimise people but to "be close to people's dreams, their aspirations and their suffering." And she's issued an order. "You will fight for a society of equal citizenship for men and women.
Five boys, all aged 15, jump over one another to tell me what they found most inspiring when I ask them in the foyer after the event. They've been brought along by their English teacher Meike Barth from the Gymnasium an der Gartenstraße which has around 900 students. They are also curious to learn about human rights struggles other parts of the world and how they can support them, in part because of the new refugee friends they have made at their school.
Ahmet says he was especially touched when Shirin Ebadi, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts to promote human rights in Iran, mentioned the Berlin wall: "She said that that physical wall and the wall Trump wants to build is like the Berlin wall and we can bring it down," he recounts. But Ahmet's also struck by her message about breaking down the walls between people ideologically. "It's not just physical walls but walls in our hearts. People can always find ways to talk across physical walls, but what's more hard is what she said about solidarity and people, the politicians trying to stop that connection. Actually," he reflects, "I was thinking of this different metaphor of a different kind of wall we all build together with that hope, like bricks but you also need cement….It's a metaphor in progress!"
Ahmet is also inspired by Jody William's work to erase landmines. "There are still landmines in Vietman", he tells me, "actually I read about that just last week and I was sat there thinking we need to do something about that." I ask him what he's going to do: he's going to organise a local event and write to politicians.
Sebastian meanwhile tells me what stuck with him was the message advanced by Northern Irish peace activist and 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laurate Mairead Maguire to use academic studies to advance the cause of peace, whatever the discipline. He enjoys chemistry, biology and maths and wants to help tackle climate change. "People thing human rights is just a subject but it's actually about everything, the whole environment. It's not just politicians saying this and that." He's been inspired by the public meeting tonight to organise his own event. Benjamin, another student, wants to get active on social media and says he is going to help him.
Source: Fight fundamentalism in all its guises: a call to action from Yemen to Germany | openDemocracy
Tags: feminists, Germany, human rights awards, human rights of women, Jennifer Allsopp, Nobel Prize, Nobel Women's Initiative, refugees, Shirin Ebadi, women human rights defenders
Iran: shameful sentences for Narges Mohammadi, Issa Saharkhiz, Arash Sadeghi – no detente in human rights
© International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
There was some hope that with the 'nuclear agreement' Iran would relent in its persecution of human rights defenders. [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/human-rights-defenders-squeezed-by-geo-politics-the-cases-of-colombia-iran-and-cuba/#more-6957] It now seems clear that this is not the case:
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Amnesty International, OMCT and FIDH and many others condemned a decision by an Iranian appeals court to uphold a 16-year jail sentence against journalist and human rights activist Narges Mohammadi. Under a law passed last year, she will 'only' serve the sentence linked to the most important charge – in this case 10 years for "forming and managing an illegal group" which pressed for an end to capital punishment. Mohammadi, 44, was the spokesperson of the Centre for Human Rights Defenders and campaigned for an end to the death penalty in Iran. 2003 Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi who founded the Centre for Human Rights Defenders, said: "I condemn this sentence imposed by the Iranian judicial system as Narges's only crime is to be a human rights defender in a country that flouts these rights".
Mohammadi went on hunger strike in June after being denied phone contact with her children, who live with their father in France. The authorities relented after 20 days of the hunger strike. [see also: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/retaliation-against-iranian-human-rights-defender-for-meeting-with-ashton/]
Posted in AI, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, RSF | 1 Comment »
Tags: AI, Arash Sadeghi, freedom of expression, Front Line (NGO), Gholamreza Khosravi, Human Rights Defenders, Iran, Issa Saharkhiz, Journalist, Narges Mohammadi, prison sentence, Reporters without Borders, Shirin Ebadi
On 14 September 3 women Nobel Laureates speak at panel at Quinnipiac University
Three women Nobel Prize laureates will discuss peace, gender issues and human rights when they participate in a panel discussion on 14 September 2016 at Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, USA.
Shirin Ebadi, the first female judge in Iran, Leymah Gbowee, a leader in Libya's movement towards democracy and interfaith understanding, and Tawakkol Karman, a journalist who was a leader in Yemen's movement toward democracy, will take part in the discussion which takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 14 September at Burt Kahn Court at Quinnipiac University, 275 Mount Carmel Ave. The event is free and open to the public.
Source: Nobel Laureates Hold Human Rights Panel at Quinnipiac University – Hamden, CT Patch
Tags: Iran, Leymah Gbowee, Liberia, Nobel Peace Prize, panel, Quinnipiac University, Shirin Ebadi, Tawakkol Karman, USA, women human rights defenders, Yemen
Human rights defenders squeezed by geo-politics? The cases of Colombia, Iran and Cuba.
Health and holidays (in that order) have slowed down my blog production somewhat this summer, but perhaps this was a welcome break for many of my readers for reasons of holiday and health (in that order I hope). Anyway, during these summer months I read quite some instances of HRD repression related to countries involved in major 'geo-political' progress and I started wondering whether this is coincidental. Take the following three cases: Colombia, Iran and Cuba. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Foundation | 2 Comments »
Tags: Ahmed Shaheed, Akbar Ganji, Colombia, Cuba, Dagoberto Giraldo Henao, extra judicial killings, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Foundation, Iran, Karim Lahidji, killings, media, Oswaldo Payá, peace talks, Shirin Ebadi, transition, USA
Nargess Mohammadi arrested in Iran
Just when one thinks that Iran is going to change for the better, human rights defender Ms. Nargess Mohammadi is arrested (after years of continuous judicial harassment, including repeated summoning, interrogations and trials.)
Several NGOs, including the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH/OMCT) have strongly condemned the 5 May arrest of Nargess Mohammadi, who is the spokesperson and Vice-President of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC). Upon her arrest, the agents claimed that she was being taken "to serve her prison sentence". [Mrs Mohammadi started to serve a 6-year prison sentence on 21 April 2012, but that she was released on bail on 31 July 2012 for medical reasons.]
On May 3, 2015, Ms. Mohammadi attended the first hearing of her trial based on three main charges against her:
"assembly and collusion against the national security" based on her activities in the DHRC and cooperation with "the [Nobel Laureate] Shirin Ebadi, counter-revolutionary and feminist groups";
"spreading propaganda against the State" based on her "interviews with foreign and counter-revolutionary media participation in illegal gatherings, supporting sedition and anti-security inmates"; and
"membership of the illegal and anti-security LEGAM group".
Following a meeting in 2014 with the then High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy, Ms. Catherine Ashton, the Iranian authorities banned Ms. Mohammadi from travelling abroad; she has received 10 summons and has been detained twice by the security agents.
The Observatory strongly condemns arbitrary arrest of Ms. (…).
Tags: arbitrary arrest, Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), EU, human rights lawyer, intimidation, Iran, judicial harassment, Nargess Mohammadi, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Reprisal, Shirin Ebadi, woman human rights defender
Interview with Karim Lahidji on the 36th anniversary of the Islamic regime in Iran
11 February 2015 marks the 36th anniversary of the Islamic regime in Iran. Karim Lahidji, President of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), answers questions about freedoms and liberties in Iran today. The very experienced and well-respected Iranian exile recalls briefly the historical background and states the record on freedom of religion in Iran: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Abdolfattah Soltani, apostacy, Ayatollah Khomeini, blasphemy, FIDH, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, Iran, Iranian revolution, islamic regime, Karim Lahidji, Nargess Mohammadi, Nasrin Sotoudeh, SAVAK, Shirin Ebadi
The release of human rights defenders written up in a Lifestyle Magazine
Just as an example of how human rights defenders and the work to support them can appear in a Lifestyle Magazine:
Across Canada human rights supporters have recently been celebrating the releases of a number of prisoners of conscience—people jailed solely for the peaceful expression of their beliefs.
In China, poet and journalist Shi Tao was released after more than eight years in prison. Supporters of the human rights organization Amnesty International (amnesty.ca) had long campaigned for his freedom by writing letters to the Chinese authorities and signing petitions calling for his release. Shi Tao was imprisoned in 2004 for sending an email using his Yahoo account. His email summarized a communiqué from the Chinese Central Propaganda Department telling journalists how they should handle the 15th anniversary of the crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement. The Chinese authorities accused him of "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities". Shi Tao expressed his thanks to supporters: "The support and encouragement of friends from around the world have helped my mother and me through the difficult and lonely times." Other prisoners of conscience recently released in China this year included human rights defender Ni Yulan, and Falun Gong practitioners Wang Xiuqing and her daughter Qin Hailong, released after 18 months in a "re-education through labour" camp.
In Iran, the sudden release of prisoner of conscience Nasrin Sotoudeh in September further showed how the passion and persistence of individual people around the world taking action by putting pen to paper can help human rights. Sotoudeh is widely respected for her work as a lawyer. She has represented children facing the death penalty, prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders, and has worked closely with Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. But in August 2010 Sotoudeh was locked up in Tehran's notorious Evin prison though she had committed no crime. During her imprisonment, Nasrin was stopped from having regular visits with her husband, Reza Khandan, and two young children. Amnesty International declared her a prisoner of conscience and quickly launched a global appeal demanding her release. Supporters tirelessly wrote letters to the Iranian authorities requesting them to free the human rights lawyer. Their efforts helped win a great victory. Sotoudeh sent a thank you for the support she had received from people around the world. "I have been aware of all your efforts on my behalf and I want to thank you!"
Human rights supporters celebrate recent prisoner releases : The Canadian Lifestyle Magazine.
Posted in AI, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, Canada, Canadian Lifestyle Magazine, China, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Iran, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Ni Yulan, prisoner of conscience, Shi Tao, Shirin Ebadi, woman human rights defender, Yahoo