Nobele laurette, attorney and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi recently discussed instances of human rights violations in Iran at a seminar entitled, "Challenges of Human Rights Defenders in Iran," condemning threats of military action and the Islamic Republic's refusal to allow United Nations human rights inspectors to visit the country. Below is the text of this interview.
Rooz (R): What particular instances of human rights violations in Iran did you discuss in Geneva?
Shirin Ebadi (SE): Among the issues I discussed was the execution of minors (under 18 years) in Iran. It is unfortunate that only three countries in the world, including Iran, have the death penalty for minors. Another issue that was discussed by Dr. Lahiji was the death penalty in general. Unfortunately, Iran has the second highest percentage of executions in the world. Another speaker, Mrs. Mohammadi also spoke about the condition of workers and teachers and their rights. In the end I noted that Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani had planned to attend the meeting but could not because even though he had been cleared of all the charges against him, his ban on leaving the country remained.
R: What is the status of United Nations human rights inspectors visiting Iran? Will these inspectors be able to travel to Iran in preparation for their report?
SE: The government has not issued entry visas for UN’s human rights inspectors. For that reason, Iran's name appears next to Turkmenistan and Burma, as countries that have not granted entry visas to human rights inspectors. Pursuant to a decision that was issued at the U.N. General Assembly last year, the U.N. Secretary General has been tasked to prepare a report on human rights conditions in Iran for the upcoming General Assembly meeting in New York in September. It is however impossible to prepare this report without human rights inspectors physically visiting Iran. All participants in the meeting requested that the Iranian government allow human rights inspectors to enter Iran.
R: When was the last time that these inspectors visited Iran?
SE: A few years ago, during Mr. Khatami's administration inspectors investigating rogue arrest cases came to Iran and visited Evin Prison, along with the freedom of speech and women's rights special inspectors.
R: What are the repercussions of the decision not to allow human rights inspectors to enter Iran?
SE: There certainly aren't good repercussions. When a country does not allow inspections, it is interpreted that it has something to hide.
R: In your latest trip to Europe, you attended the Global Media Forum in Bonn. What was the purpose of the forum and what issues were discussed?
SE: This forum was held at the invitation of Deutsche Welle radio in the city of Bonn and was attended by eight hundred editors and reporters from across the globe. I was the keynote speaker and spoke about freedom of speech and different aspects of censorship.
R: After that you traveled to London where you discussed various topics related to conflicts in the Middle East. What programs did you pursue on this trip?
SE: The trip to London was to unveil the book "Refugee Rights in Iran," which was written and published in Farsi and was recently translated into English by Ms. Banafshe Keynoush and published with the assistance of the U.N. High Commission for Refugees. I also had a speech in London on the situation in the Middle East where I discussed the reasons behind the unrest in the region. At the end of that discussion, I opposed not only military strikes against Iran, but also threats of military action and noted that, although human rights and democracy conditions in Iran were very poor, it is the responsibility of us Iranians, and not foreign soldiers, to change this. Human rights and democracy can flourish only in peace and calm. In a country such as Iraq, it is useless to speak of freedom of speech and expression because people are searching for a place to shelter themselves.
