Abdolkarim Lahidji, the president of the Human Rights Society of Iran and the vice president of the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights Leagues spoke with Rooz about threats made on Shirin Ebadi's life, and notes that none of the measures taken to confront the winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize could have been undertaken without the consent of government officials. Lahidji emphasizes that the Islamic Republic government is responsible for any harm to Shirin Ebadi. Here is the interview.
Rooz (R): How accurate are the remarks of Iranian officials, especially foreign ministry spokesperson Mr. Ghashgavi that the government will provide security for Ebadi should she make a request and that she is safe?
Abdol-Karim Lahidji (AKL): If you recall, when Shirin Ebadi was threatened last year, Mr. Ahmadinejad announced that he is ready to guarantee Mrs. Ebadi's safety, and we all saw what that meant! Her daughter was threatened, Mrs. Ebadi was accused of cooperating with the Israeli government, the Center for Defenders of Human Rights was shut, Mrs. Ebadi's office was searched and her documents confiscated. Lately they even sent thugs and gangsters to Mrs. Ebadi's home who accused her of being an agent of America and Israel.
We know that none of these measures can be taken without the consent and involvement of Islamic Republic officials. How could such measures be taken without the consent of government officials in a country that puts in jail women who gather signatures to defend their legal rights? It must be noted that the harshest insults and accusations against Mrs. Ebadi are voiced by IRNA, the Islamic Republic's official news agency. Therefore, the remarks of the foreign ministry spokesperson, like the remarks of Mr. Ahmadinejad, are not worth anything and do not conform with the reality of Iranian society. We are seriously concerned about Mrs. Ebadi and her safety, about her life. Today, the 1997 Nobel Peace laureate Judy Williams too voiced her concern over this matter in several interviews.
R: Mrs. Ebadi told me in an interview that when there was a gathering in front of her house the situation was so volatile that even if someone was murdered it would have been impossible to identify the murderer. If something happens to Mrs. Ebadi, who is responsible?
AKL: The responsible party certainly is the Islamic Republic. If the government wants to guarantee the safety of Mrs. Ebadi or any other citizen, it certainly can. We must keep in mind that it is one of the government's duties to provide safety for its citizens, and that duty does not require Mrs. Ebadi to make any special requests. If anything happens to Mrs. Ebadi the Islamic Republic government is responsible and we announce this to the international community right now.
R: Are the recent threats different from previous threats, either in their essence or form?
AKL: This issue has passed the stage of threats and now is in the execution stage. In the past two months, intelligence officers went to Mrs. Ebadi's office twice and gave ultimatums that the Center for the Defense of Human Rights must be shut down as it has become a nest for anti-revolutionary activists and proponents of the Islamic Republic. You saw how they attacked her office and confiscated all her documents. That means that Mrs. Ebadi cannot defend any of her clients right now, because she does not have possession of their trial binders. They took all the documents.
The only place that has been safe from official entries by government officials has been Mrs. Ebadi's home. However, we cannot be sure that Mrs. Ebadi will not be intimated further. Her life can be put in danger in a staged road accident. You recall that Mrs. Ebadi's name was among those identified in the "death list" during the chain murders, although at that time she was not a Nobel Peace Laureate yet. Perhaps there is this perception in the international community that the Nobel prize affords Mrs. Ebadi more safety, but as a human rights activists I do not share that belief. It is true that if something happened to Mrs. Ebadi the Islamic Republic government must pay a hefty price, but we saw in the case of chain murders that, unfortunately, that did not prevent the rulers from engaging in heinous crimes and they did not pay the price either.
