Shirin Ebadi wins Nobel Peace Prize

October 10, 2003 2:37 AM

Shirin Ebadi wins Nobel Peace Prize Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi has won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2003. Ebadi is Iran's first female judge and a leading figure in the struggle for women's and children's rights in Iran. She is known for representing the interests of persecuted individuals and has braved reprisals for her beliefs.
posted by dagny (8 comments total)

Thank God PJPII didn't win.
posted by Hildegarde at 5:48 AM on October 10, 2003

I suppose it isn't a blow to his record on advocating for peace, but telling millions of people in AIDS affected countries that condoms are ineffective, just to forward an anti-contraception agenda can't have helped.
posted by mrmcsurly at 7:23 AM on October 10, 2003

This was a great decision; they should always give it to people like this, fighting the good fight at ground level, rather than to the damn politicians.

Can we please not take this as an opportunity to bash the pope? There are other threads for that.
posted by languagehat at 7:59 AM on October 10, 2003

what languagehat said. both parts.
posted by stonerose at 8:20 AM on October 10, 2003

This was a great decision; they should always give it to people like this, fighting the good fight at ground level, rather than to the damn politicians.

Agreed languagehat. The shot callers are not the ones in need of the protection that the visibility of the Nobel prize conveys. The more repressive elements in Iran will have to carefully consider the international fallout of cracking down on Ebadi and Iranians working toward the protection of basic human rights.
posted by Gif at 9:26 AM on October 10, 2003

From her citation:

In an era of violence, she has consistently supported nonviolence.

Amen.

If only many other "activists" in the Middle East, including the United States, could be so described.
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 1:57 PM on October 10, 2003

WhoMan thinks that awarding the prize to Ebadi will put the Iranian government under the same kind of international pressure as awarding it to Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991 did to the Burmese government, which would probably be a lot nastier if not for the extra attention (Suu Kyi is out of prision but back under house arrest again, btw.)
posted by homunculus at 3:31 PM on October 10, 2003

Shirin Ebadi must run for president
posted by homunculus at 9:34 PM on October 14, 2003