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Home , Alva Myrdal, Oslo City Hall, Shirin Ebadi

Social Education 68(4), pp. 260-263 © 2004 National Council for the Social Studies

introduced their version of Islamic laws, which were largely rigid and harsh rules, : particularly for women, children, and non-Muslim minorities.3 The new govern- ment initiated a program of Islamization A Muslim Woman of institutions, which excluded women from certain professions, such as working Nobel Peace Laureate as a judge.4 Therefore, Ebadi was forced to resign from her position as a city court judge. Citizens, who found the rules of the Iftikhar Ahmad theocratic state unacceptable, immigrated to other countries and became refugees. The is recognized as citizens of the Muslim world face in their Ebadi decided to stay in and struggle one of the most prestigious global awards. struggle for democracy: Who is Shirin for democracy and human rights. Although the prize is worth $1.32 million, Ebadi? What is her contribution to human its symbolic value and moral significance rights and democracy in Iran? And, what is The Fight for Human Rights is priceless. Each year the Norwegian the significance of the Nobel Peace Prize Although the theocratic regime imposed Nobel Committee, which is appointed by for Iran and other Muslim societies? numerous restrictions on women pro- ’s parliament to select the winner, hibiting them from civic and economic receives many nominations from around Who is Shirin Ebadi? participation, Ebadi did not give up.5 She the world. Since the Nobel Peace Prize Shirin Ebadi was born in 1947. She stud- established her law practice to defend the was founded in 1901, the committee has ied law in Iran’s capital at the University human rights of women and children. She awarded 110 prizes to individuals and of . After her graduation in 1969 also represented the cases of high pro- organizations for their exceptional achieve- she joined the legal profession and also file political dissidents before the Sharia ments in promoting peace, democracy, and taught law at the . As court, which interprets Islamic law and human rights. People who have won the a young woman Ebadi lived through the resolves conflicts between individuals prize include such visionary leaders as social and economic reforms of the White as well as between individuals and the , , Revolution, initiated by the shah of Iran state. Some political dissidents were , Martin Luther King, Jr., and in 1963. The White Revolution not only persecuted by the government and its . The Nobel Peace laure- brought Western influences to a traditional hardliner Islamist vigilantes. Many law- ates include eleven women from different Iranian society, it also enhanced the shah’s yers, fearing for their own safety, refused parts of the world who selflessly worked autocratic rule.2 Nevertheless, Iranian to defend dissidents. Ebadi took up the for humanitarian causes. Some of those women enjoyed relatively more social, cause of these citizens and volunteered women, for example, and political, and economic rights than they to represent them. Mother Theresa, are legendary for their do today under the current theocratic Among Ebadi’s cases, two are rela- service to humanity. Shirin Ebadi, who system. The shah’s regime imposed fewer tively more noteworthy because they is from Iran, became the eleventh female restrictions on women in their selection of exposed the theocratic regime’s rigid Nobel Peace laureate in 2003. Ebadi is the professions. In 1975, Ebadi was appointed interpretation of Islam and its violation third Muslim and the first woman from as a judge to the city court of Tehran—she of the universal principles of gender the Muslim world to be honored with the was the first female judge ever appointed equality and citizens’ rights of democratic prize. When the Nobel Committee made in Iran. But in 1979, political turmoil in participation. In the first case, Ebadi the announcement, it acknowledged that the country seriously affected Ebadi’s represented a divorced mother, Nahid of the 165 contestants, the committee had life and work. The shah and his policies Najidpoor, who sought custody from selected Ebadi because of the courage she were so unpopular that people protested her ex-husband of their nine-year-old demonstrated in her struggle for human in the streets. The followers of Ayatollah daughter, Aryan Gulshani. The child’s rights and democracy in Iran.1 Khomeini, a religious and political leader, father was a drug addict and had a crimi- Before the news of the 2003 award launched a popular opposition movement nal record. Even though Najidpoor had made world headlines, few people outside against the shah. Unable to satisfy public presented evidence of her ex-husband’s of Iran had heard of Ebadi. This article demands, the shah surrendered power abuse of their daughter, the court denied explores several questions so readers may and went into exile. Shiia Muslim clerics her plea for custody on the premise that learn about some of the challenges that then declared Iran an Islamic republic and the Shari’a-based law considered chil-

Social Education 260 “It is a pleasure for the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize to a woman who is part of the Muslim world, and of whom that world can be proud—along with all who fight for human rights wherever they live.” OLE DANBOLT MJOES Head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee

dren property of the father. The daughter students launched a democratic move- ties as a government-sponsored militant was later found dead, having apparently ment, the national intelligence agency engaged in violent acts against dissidents. been beaten to death. Ebadi not only of Iran recruited Islamist vigilantes to The videotape purportedly implicated managed to get the father convicted of intimidate them. In July 1999, led by the key government officials in a conspiracy the crime, she also galvanized a broad- chief of the intelligence agency, vigilantes to recruit militant vigilantes for attack- based citizens’ movement against the stormed student dormitories at Tehran ing civil disobedience rallies. Ebadi was inequitable child custody law. As a result, University and terrorized students. One charged with defaming the government. in 1998, the Iranian parliament relented young student, Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad, She was tried in a closed court, sentenced and amended the child custody law to was killed. The government quickly dis- to fifteen months in solitary confine- the benefit of women and children. sociated itself from the incident declaring ment and also disbarred for five years. In another high-profile case, in 1999 that it had no knowledge of the militant However, she appealed the court’s judg- Ebadi championed the principle of citi- vigilantes. But hundreds of students were ment and was released after serving three zens’ right of democratic participation. arrested and given harsh prison sentences. weeks in the notorious Evin Prison. She exposed the government’s plot to Ahmad Batebi, a student whose picture Despite her persecution at the hands repress democratic movements through appeared on the cover of the Economist, of Iran’s fundamentalist government, intimidation and the use of militant vigi- received a sentence of thirteen years in Ebadi is a practicing Muslim. However, lantes. Islamist vigilantes were hard-line prison for participating in a peaceful her interpretation of Islam differs from supporters of the theocratic regime who protest.7 the Iranian government’s official and covertly served the secret police as aux- Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad’s family held legalistic interpretation. She represents iliaries and used violent means against the clerical government responsible for a pacifist, pluralist, and tolerant Islam. reformers. Indeed, the government of the death of their son. Ebadi filed a She says that her interpretation is paci- Iran systematically used Islamist vigilan- lawsuit against the government. While fist because she believes that Islam is a tism as a tool to discourage reform move- collecting evidence for the case, Ebadi religion of peace and that Islamic values ments in the country.6 In the late 1990s, videotaped an interview with a witness, are compatible with the values of univer- when Iranian intellectuals and university an ex-vigilante, who discussed his activi- sal human rights. Her notion of Islam is

M a y / J u n e 2 0 0 4 261 Teaching Resources

U.S. and International Documents on Human Rights Websites for Human Rights and Peace Education • , 538 BC Nobel Peace Prize • Magna Carta, 1215 www.amnesty.org www.nobel.se/peace/articles/heroines • The Atlantic Charter, 1603 • English Bill of Rights, 1689 Human Rights Education Peace Education Center, Teachers • Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776 Associates College, • United States Declaration of Independence, 1776 www.hrea.org www.teacherscollege.edu/peaceEd/ • French Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1789 Human Rights Resource Center Peace Women • United States Bill of Rights, 1791 www.hrusa.org www.peacewomen.org • Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 • Declaration of the Rights of the Child, 1959 UN Commission on Human Rights www.hrw.org www.un.org/rights

Iran Children’s Rights Society University of Minnesota Human www.iranianchildren.org Rights Center and Library www1.umn.edu/humanrts/about.html Female Nobel Peace Laureates and Their Missions Year Name Country Mission 1905 Baroness Austria 1931 Jane Addams USA universal brotherhood 1946 USA anti-war movement 1976 Betty Williams Ireland women for peace 1976 Mairead Corrigan Ireland women for peace 1979 Mother Theresa Yugoslavia service to humanity 1982 Mexico movement 1991 Burma democracy movement 1992 Riguberta Manchu Tum Guatemala ethnic harmony 1997 USA movement to ban mines 2003 Shirin Ebadi Iran human rights

Bibliography on Muge Gocek, Fatma and Balaghi, Shiva, Reconstructing Hines, P. D. and Wood, L., “A Guide to Human Rights Afkhami, Mahnaz and Friedl, Erika, In the Eye of the Storm: Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity, and Education,” Bulletin No. 43. Washington, D.C.: Women in Post-Revolutionary Iran (Syracuse, N.Y.: Power (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994). National Council for the Social Studies. Syracuse University Press, 1994). Sanasarian, Eliz, The Women’s Rights Movement in Iran Human Rights Resource Center, The Human Rights Amanat, Abbas, Crowning Anguish: Memoirs of a Persian (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1982). Education Handbook: Effective Practices for Learning, Princess (Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers, 1983). Shahabi, Soraya, What is Happening to Women in Iran: Action and Change (University of Minnesota, 1969). Ansari, Sarah and Martin, Vanessa, Women, Religion and International Campaign for the Defence of Women Human Rights Resource Center, Decade Culture in Iran (Great Britain and Ireland: Richmond, (Sweden: s.n, 1993). for Human Rights Education (University of Minnesota, Surrey, 2002). ______, Women in Iran: How They Live Under 1995). Daneshvar, Simin, Savushun: A Novel (Washington, D.C.: Khomeini’s Terror Regime (Los Angeles: Democratic Martin, J. Paul, Self-help Human Rights Education Mage Publishers, 1990). Organization of Iranian Women U.S.A., 1984). Handbook (N.Y.: Columbia University Press, 1996). Farman Farmaian, Sattareh, Daughter of Persia (New York: Mayer, Ann Elizabeth., Islam and Human Rights: Tradition Crown Publishers, 1992). Bibliography on Human Rights Education and politics, 2nd ed. (Boulder, Colo.:Westview Press, Howard, Jane Mary, Inside Iran: Women’s Lives Branson, Margaret and Torney-Purta, Judith (Eds.), 1995). (Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers, 2002). International Human Rights, Society, and the Schools, Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, ABC, Kousha, Mahnaz, Voices From Iran: The Changing Lives of Bulletin No. 68 (Washington, D.C.: National Council Teaching Human Rights: Practical Activities for Iranian Women (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University for the Social Studies, 1982). Primary and Secondary Schools (New York: United Press, 2002). Brown, Margot, Our World, Our Rights: Teaching about Nations, 1989). Milani, Farzaneh, Veils and Words: the Emerging Voices of Rights and Responsibilities in the Primary School (UK: Reardon, Betty, Educating for Human Dignity (Philadelphia: Iranian Women Writers (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse Amnesty International, 1996). University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995). University Press, 1992). Flowers, Nancy. (Ed.), Human Rights Here and Now: Tibbitt, Felissa, Human Rights Educational Goals for Mir-Hosseini, Ziba, Marriage on Trial: A Study of Islamic Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Children and Youth (Amsterdam: Human Rights Family Law (: I.B. Tauris, 1993). Rights. Education Associates, 1996). Hacker, Carlotta, Winners (New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 1998). Social Education 262 pluralist because she believes that Islam modernity and globalization. Access to Identify Human Rights in Historical is respectful of diverse faiths and that information technology, global media, Documents: A Group Project it teaches gender equality, social justice, and an increased level of international (40 minutes) and democratic living. Ebadi’s inter- interdependence has brought a new Divide the class into groups. Each group pretation of Islam is consistent with the level of consciousness to people in the should have three students, and each civic ideals of modern democracy. She Muslim world about their democratic group should elect its own spokesper- believes that Islam teaches respect for rights. Young men and women demand son. Provide each group with an historical life, liberty, social justice, gender equal- from their leaders adequate responses document on human rights (The docu- ity, and human dignity. In her Nobel to the complex problems of the mod- ments are listed in the teaching resources lecture, Ebadi explained her views on ern world, responses that seem not to be section on page 262.). The groups will gender equality in Islam by noting that it forthcoming. They demand full citizen- read their assigned historical docu- is not the religion of Islam but the “patri- ship participation and human rights but ments. Each group will identify three archal and male-dominated culture” of face resistance from dictators and con- human rights. The spokesperson for each the Muslim societies that perpetuates servative leaders. Hence, both the Nobel group will read aloud the three human discrimination against women.8 After Committee and Ebadi aptly pointed out rights and share them with other groups. receiving the prize in , Ebadi told that the Nobel Peace Prize for a Muslim Groups will come together to combine an Iranian reporter: woman would inspire all those in Iran their lists and prepare one common list Human rights are compatible and the larger Muslim world who are for the class. with Islam. I’ve spent twenty years determined to continue their peaceful researching this and studying the struggle for democratic change. The Notes theory of this. The problem is choice of Ebadi as Nobel laureate sends 1. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, www.nobel.se/ peace/laureates/2003/press.html. that some Islamic countries don’t the message that such efforts toward the 2. Michael Rubin, Into the Shadows: Radical Vigilantes implement human rights law, it’s realization of human rights and social in Khatami’s Iran (Washington, D.C.: Washington because of their interpretation of justice will “enjoy the support, back- Institute for the New East Policy, 2001). 3. Shiia, Shia, or Shiite means the same thing; it is one of Islam; you see, you can be a good ing and solidarity of international civil the two major sects in Islam. The other major sect is Muslim and follow the human society.”10 Sunni. 9 4. Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Islam and Human Rights: rights charter. Tradition and Politics (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, Activities (6-12 grades) 1995), 111. The Nobel Peace Prize and Classroom Discussion (30 minutes) 5. Elton L. Daniel, The History of Iran (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001), 213. the Muslim World 1. Why does the Norwegian Committee 6. Sadeq Saba, “Who are Iran’s Islamic Vigilantes?” June Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize award the Nobel Peace Prize each 14, 2003, BBC News World Edition, www.bbc. in a period when Muslims in Iran and year? co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2990786.stm; Rubin, Into the Shadows, 12. elsewhere found themselves in the throes 2. How many women have won the 7. Human Rights Watch, World Report 2000, www.hrw. of unprecedented social, political, and Nobel Peace Prize? org/wr2k1/mideast/iran.html. economic challenges. Traditional reli- 3. Why was Shirin Ebadi selected for the 8. Shirin Ebadi’s Nobel lecture of December 10, 2003 in the , Norway, www.nobel.se/peace/ gious approaches for solving modern 2003 peace prize? laureates/2003/ebadi-lecture-e.html. problems proved to be inadequate. For 4. How did the Nobel Committee 9. Shirin Ebadi’s interterview with Payvand, an Iranian example, Iran’s conservative Islamic gov- describe Shirin Ebadi? newspaper, on October 21, 2003, www.payvand.com/ news/03/oct/1133.html. ernment has failed to meet the public’s 5. What country does Shirin Ebadi come 10. Shirin Ebadi, “In the Name of the God of Creation and expectations. As a result, a popular from? And what difficulties did she Wisdom,” Oslo City Hall, Norway (December 10, 2003), www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/2003/ebadi-lecture- reformist movement has emerged which face in her country? e.html; The Norwegian Nobel Committee, “The Nobel rejects the current rulers’ anachronistic 6. Describe some of Shirin Ebadi’s activ- Peace Prize 2003,” www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/2003/ interpretation of Islam—it proposes lib- ities for human rights and democracy. press.html. eral constitutional and social reforms. 7. What are Shirin Ebadi’s views of Iftikhar Ahmad is assistant professor of cur- Other Muslim societies are no dif- Islam? Is her interpretation of Islam riculum and instruction in the School of Education, ferent from Iran. Countries like Saudi similar to, or different from, those pro- Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus, New Arabia, Indonesia, and Pakistan are also moted by the conservative rulers of York. His book, Citizenship Education: Politi- under immense pressure because ten- Iran? cal Scientists’ Struggle for the Social Studies Curriculum, was published in 2003 by American sion between a backward-looking con- 8. How would you define universal University and Colleges Press, Salt Lake City, Utah. servative Islam and a -looking human rights? pluralist Islam has divided those societ- 9. Identify four historical documents that ies. Indeed, tensions in Muslim societ- focus on universal human rights. ies are mainly caused by the forces of

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