In an exclusive interview, Shirin Ebadi, the winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize spoke with Rooz Online about Haleh Esfandiari’s arrest. While commenting on the charges of cooperation with anti-state security plans through work with the Open Society Institute that have been laid against Haleh Esfandiari, Ebadi said that, “The Open Society [Institute] has stressed through its statement, which was also published in the Washington Post newspaper, that it had provided monetary assistance to the government of Iran with the consent of the Iranian government from many years ago.” In the interview, Ebadi requests that Open Society “disclose the amount of money it has spent in Iran with the consent of the Iranian government, and that it identify what the money was spent on and how it was dispersed in Iran” so as to remove the pressure that is currently exerted on her client [Esfandiari]. Here are the excerpts.
Rooz Online [R]: While it was announced that you have taken up the defense of Haleh Esfandiari, there was a news report that judiciary officials in Iran had barred you from carrying out your attorney responsibilities. What was the basis for this obstruction?
Shirin Ebadi (SE]: I accepted to be the defense attorney for Haleh Esfandiari on the request of her mother, daughter and husband. Since I was in the US at the time, my colleagues Messers Seyfzadeh and Soltani prepared the Power of Attorney documents. Esfandiari’s family members took the document to branch no 14 of the Revolutionary Court and requested to see the prisoner before signing the Power of Attorney. Court officials however denied this request. They then requested that the Power of Attorney be handed over to Haleh Esfandiari so she could sign it. But the officials denied that as well and claimed that Haleh Esfandiari had said that she did not need a defense attorney.
R: Is it true that Haleh Esfandiari had said that she did not need a defense attorney?
SE: No. Basically, according to the Esfandiari family members when Haleh initially spoke over the phone with her mother to tell her that she had been arrested she had also said that she needed a defense attorney and had stressed that they hire Ebadi for the purpose. The prosecutor however denies this. My client, i.e. the mother of Haleh Esfandiari, emphatically insists that her daughter had asked her that Ms Ebadi accept to represent her. In any case, the law does not allow the prosecutor to dictate whether a defendant should have a defense attorney or not. I see myself as the defense attorney for the Esfandiari family and I carry out my duties on that basis, which I shall continue.
R: In addition to what the press has published, do you have any knowledge of any other specific charges against Ms Haleh Esfandiari?
SE: We too do not know what the specific charges against her are. Only through a statement that was published by the Ministry of Intelligence a few days ago, we noticed that the charges against her are activities against state security, and antagonism towards the government, and that she has been in contact with the Open Society Institute belonging to George Soros, the well-known American billionaire.
R: Is this manner of announcing an indictment legal?
SE: This act of the Ministry of Intelligence is completely contrary to the laws of Iran. Until a suspect is tried and the charges against him proven, nobody has the right to publicly announce the accusations against the suspect. They did not even wait for an indictment to be officially issued for the Ministry of Intelligence to make statements about the basis of the indictment.
R: Why do you think the Ministry of Intelligence is interpreting association with the Open Society Institute to be the basis of anti-state activities?
SE: This is a question that the Iranian government must respond to. According to the statements of Open Society Institute, which have also been published in the Washington Post newspaper, stresses that it has been providing financial support to the Iranian government with the consent of that government.
R: In what areas?
SE: In battling drug trafficking, AIDS, and aid to Bam earthquake victims. Some of this assistance that relates to health issues such as anti-AIDS programs was given prior to the Bam earthquake. Iran’s government has been fully aware of the presence of this assistance because it has been the recipient of this money. The transfer of money from the US to Iran has also been taking place with the permission of the US government (which is because current sanctions against Iran prohibit any financial transfers to Iran without a US government license). In fact, Iran’s work with Open Society Institute has been going on between Iranian and American authorities in a completely legal manner, and not in secret.
R: Is the volume of this cooperation known?
SE: Not to us. In an effort to remove the heavy pressure on my client, who has been unjustly accused, I would like to request Open Society to publicly and definitively announce what amount of money it has spent in Iran through official authorization, and for what purpose, including how the money has been dispersed in Iran. I think nothing is better than transparency in effectively in implementing justice. There is no reason for Open Society not to wish to publicly announce in this regard.
