Following the closure of the offices for Center for the Defense of Human Rights in Tehran last ‎week, Nobel peace laureate and the Center's president Shirin Ebadi told Rooz in an interview, ‎‎"When they shut our office there was no adequate registration of our inventory." Ebadi added, ‎‎"Under these circumstances, if something is lost or something is added, based on which they ‎would want to find reasons to charge members of the Center, we will object to that." You read ‎the interview below.‎

Rooz (R): What is the real reason for closure of the office of the Center for the Defense of ‎Human Rights? ‎

Shirin Ebadi (SE): The Center for Defense of Human Rights has three main duties according to ‎its mission statement. First: free legal defense of political-ideological defendants; two: help ‎families of political prisoners; and three: provide sustained reports of human rights conditions in ‎Iran. In the past two years, the Islamic Republic government has not permitted the United ‎Nations human rights reporters to enter the country. In the absence of such reporters, the reports ‎prepared by the Center for Defense of Human Rights were cited by international sources because ‎they were honest and very accurate. This December, Mr. Bon Ki Moon presented a report on ‎human rights conditions in Iran to the United Nations General Assembly and his report cited ‎reports prepared by the Center for Defense of Human Rights several times. Mr. Bon Ki Moon's ‎remarks at the United Nations General Assembly led to the passage of another resolution against ‎Iran and the General Assembly convicted Iran of human rights violations and called on its ‎government to pay more attention to the issue of human rights. The totality of these activities ‎and especially the international prestige of the Center for the Defense of Human Rights led to ‎this illegal action against the Center. ‎

R: Have you personally seen the court order authorizing the office's closure?‎

SE: When officers came to our office, they were asked to show a court order. But they did not ‎have a court order on them. It seems as if some of the judiciary's officers regard themselves to ‎be above law and allow themselves to close an office on verbal orders and without providing a ‎reason. ‎

R: Was the closure of your office legal in these circumstances?‎

SE: When they shut down our office there was no adequate registration of our inventory. ‎Therefore, the responsibility for any kind of loss or damage to documents or property is on the ‎shoulders of officers who closed down our office. In other words, we announce here that if ‎something is lost or something is added, based on which they would want to find reasons to ‎charge members of the Center, we will object to that. They shut down the office without taking ‎inventory. ‎

R: Is it possible that the lives of the Center's members are in danger should they decide to ‎continue their activities? ‎

SE: All activists at the Center for Defense of Human Rights have unanimously announced that ‎they will continue their activities, even more so than before. The report on human rights ‎violations taken place in the fall will be published next week. Also, we will continue to hold all ‎of our scheduled events. These kinds of things may further enrage those officers who regard ‎themselves to be above law. But we all are in agreement that because our actions are legal, ‎therefore we must resume our activities. ‎