Shahram Rafizadeh ‎

Newspapers affiliated with the hardliner camp in Iran have begun a new round of ‎accusations this time targeting Shirin Ebadi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and head of ‎the Defenders of Human Rights organization in Iran. ‎

The new wave of accusations began after Ebadi and her colleagues proposed to create the ‎‎“National Council for Peace” to prevent military action against Iran. Ebadi said, “We ‎have to prevent war and sanctions as much as we can, and for this reason we have started ‎the National Council for Peace, which is composed of members from within and without ‎the Defenders of human Rights organization. Not only do we not want war, but we also ‎say that only during peace we can talk about human rights and democracy.” ‎

A TV news program “News of Twenty and Thirty” which is produced by the political ‎section of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting center, and hardliner Kayhan ‎newspaper, have published false reports in the past month accusing Ebadi of “war ‎mongering.” ‎

Last week, Kayhan referred to Ebadi as the “treacherous granny,” adding, “This claimer ‎of peace and human rights has asked the United Nations through Western press to punish ‎Iran more.” ‎

Kayhan, which is published under the supervision of the office of Iran’s supreme leader, ‎wrote that Ebadi “Calls the Revolutionary Guard… terrorist.” ‎

In another strange accusation, Kayhan attempted to connect Ebadi’s Nobel prize ‎ceremony, which was broadcasted live across the globe and watched by millions of ‎people, with the Pope. Kayhan wrote, “Receiving the Nobel peace prize from the Pope ‎was a great honor for Shirin Ebadi.” Kayhan even claimed that Ebadi “Received her ‎Nobel Peace prize directly from the hands of the holy Pope.” ‎

Last month, Kayhan accused Ebadi of false charges on at least 9 different occasions. ‎

In response to Kayhan’s recent wave of accusations, Ebadi ridiculed the newspaper by ‎saying, “Kayhan is not very good at fabrications.” ‎

Ebadi said, “War is the worst thing that can happen to Iran. Economic sanctions punish ‎the people. We are against sanctions, but if the Security Council wants to force Iran to ‎abide by international law, the answer is political sanctions, not economic ones.” ‎

Ebadi added, “European countries and the Security Council can downgrade their political ‎relations with Iran to a level below ambassadors. This will be more effective in forcing ‎Iran into observe its international obligations. This is because economic sanctions do not ‎affect the Iranian government but rather transfer the pressure to the public.” ‎