Friday
Jan022009
Follow-up on Iran: Closure of Human Rights Center
Friday, January 2, 2009 at 10:03
The offices of lawyer and Nobel Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi were raided on Monday by Government officials who said they were from the tax office. Two computers, files, and folders on Ebadi's clients, most of them political activists, were seized.
In a curious reference implying that the raid has more to do with intelligence-gathering rather than prosecution of Ebadi, "an informed source in Tehran said the country's judiciary was not involved in the most recent raid". The official line, at least from the Iranian mission to the United Nations, was "that it was unaware of any campaign to silence Ebadi's work".
Yesterday "medical students" protested in front of Ebadi's home, accusing her of supporting Israel and spray-painting slogans on her building. The protests came two days after Ebadi and the Center for the Defenders of Human Rights, whose offices were closed last month by Iranian authorities, issued a statement condeming the Israeli attacks and calling for international action to stop the assault.
In a curious reference implying that the raid has more to do with intelligence-gathering rather than prosecution of Ebadi, "an informed source in Tehran said the country's judiciary was not involved in the most recent raid". The official line, at least from the Iranian mission to the United Nations, was "that it was unaware of any campaign to silence Ebadi's work".
Yesterday "medical students" protested in front of Ebadi's home, accusing her of supporting Israel and spray-painting slogans on her building. The protests came two days after Ebadi and the Center for the Defenders of Human Rights, whose offices were closed last month by Iranian authorities, issued a statement condeming the Israeli attacks and calling for international action to stop the assault.
Reader Comments (7)
Her statements on Gazza were ambivalent to say the least. Students are protesting all over the city these days (including in front of the British embassy), even though they have final exams in 3 weeks.
Thanks, Mo. I've read about the demonstrations at the British Embassy and I understand that students are now protesting in front of the embassies of Arab countries whom they feel are not supporting the people in Gaza. Can you update?
It's a somewhat chaotic situation. Student protests are taking place all over Tehran including at the airport where there is a 24 hours a day vigil. Some have taken place in front of the Egyptian government's Interest Section because of the Egyptian governments support for the slaughter in Gazza. Other protests have been held in front of the Saudi and Jordanian embassies. Every day there have been massave rallies held in Palestine Sq. (today's had many non-students as well as it is a public holiday) The Saudi Airlines office was attacked and building belonging to the British embassy was briefly taken. The police have trouble keeping up.
Others who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize include former US Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, Egyptian dictator Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat, President of apartheid South Africa Frederik Willem de Klerk, as well as the Israeli prime ministers, Menachem Begin, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin.
This is simply the Iranian demonstrators forced by the government to protest.
A pretty silly statement to make Gene44. Have you ever been to Iran? Probably not.
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