Nobel Women's Initiative

MEDIA RELEASE

(Ottawa), December 22, 2008

The Nobel Women’s Initiative—led by six Nobel Peace Prize winning women—reached out to world leaders today to condemn Iran’s ongoing harassment of human rights defenders in Iran. Over the weekend, Iranian police raided and shut down the offices of Defenders of Human Rights Centre—led by Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi —hours before an event to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“This is not an isolated action,” says Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, who won her peace prize in 1997 for her groundbreaking work to ban landmines. “My colleague Shirin Ebadi and other human rights defenders have been under increasing pressure in recent years, and have operated at times under the threat of death.”

“The fact that the Iranian government chooses the 60th anniversary of human rights to crack down on human rights defenders indicates a dangerous level of impunity. We cannot allow this harassment to go unchecked. The world community must speak out—and demand that Iran stop its blatant violation of human rights.”

The Iranian government banned the Defenders of Human Rights Centre in 2006 , but Ebadi and her colleagues have continued their work. The group has been outspoken in accusing the government of human rights violations and in opposing its heightened pressure on women activists in particular. At the ceremony scheduled for yesterday, the group was planning to honor a longtime political activist, Taqi Rahmani, who has spent a total of 17 years in prison since the 1979 revolution.

The Nobel Women’s Initiative is calling upon governments, other world leaders and the Nobel Committee to take immediate action to bring an end to Iran’s crackdown on human rights defenders.

The Nobel Women’s Initiative was founded in 2006 by six women Nobel Peace Laureates to address increased instability and violations to women’s rights worldwide. The 7th female Nobel Peace Laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is under house arrest in Burma.

For more information, or to schedule an interview, please call:

Rachel Vincent
Manager, Media Relations
Nobel Women’s Initiative
613-276-9030
rvincent@nobelwomensinitiative.org

Media:

Reverse Closure of Nobel Laureate’s Rights Group , Press Release from the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (22 December 2008)