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Statement: Rights & Democracy strongly condemns the action of the Government of Iran for threatening to prosecute Dr. Shirin Ebadi

Shirin EbadiRights & Democracy strongly condemns the action of the Government of Iran for threatening to prosecute Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Dr. Shirin Ebadi, and her staff for activities linked to the Center for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR).

Iran's interior ministry declared the Center, co-founded by Dr. Ebadi, an illegal organization on Aug. 3, 2006. The ministry’s statement claimed that the CDHR "had not obtained the proper permit."

Rights & Democracy insists that the Government of Iran respect the Iranian constitution, which does not require permits for NGOs to operate.

Rights & Democracy also demands that the Government of Iran fulfill its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to support the freedom of association and respect the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which requires governments to protect human rights activists.

Rights & Democracy also calls upon the Government of Iran to allow Dr. Ebadi and human rights activists to carry out their activities without fear or persecution.

On October 19, 2004, Dr. Ebadi visited Rights & Democracy in Montreal, where she led a discussion on women’s rights in Iran, feminism and Islam and the creation of an Islamic arbitration tribunal in Canada.

Rights & Democracy is a non-partisan, independent Canadian institution created by an Act of Parliament in 1988 to promote, advocate and defend the democratic and human rights set out in the International Bill of Human Rights. In cooperation with civil society and governments in Canada and abroad, Rights & Democracy initiates and supports programmes to strengthen laws and democratic institutions, principally in developing countries.

For More Information

Please contact Steve Smith (ext 255) or Louis Moubarak (ext 261) at Rights & Democracy, 514-283-6073.