Forum Views ()
Forum Replies ()
Read more with google mobile :
Opposition to Iran's rulers growing: Nobel laureate
|
Edition:
U.S.
Article
Comments (0)
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Venezuela army assures calm after Chavez surgery
|
10:05am EDT
Nearsightedness linked to serious eye disease
30 Jun 2011
Strauss-Kahn twist may change stakes in France
|
9:06am EDT
Older interns signal gloomy labor market
30 Jun 2011
Strauss-Kahn released without bail
|
11:50am EDT
Discussed
99
Top Republicans insist no taxes in debt deal
86
White House snubs McConnell invitation to Obama
75
U.S. cost of war at least $3.7 trillion and counting
Watched
Hefner's revenge; Ryan Reynolds stops traffic
Fri, Jun 17 2011
A Tokyo-Paris flight in under three hours on the horizon
Fri, Jun 24 2011
Justin Wolfers on America's lost decade
Thu, Jun 30 2011
Opposition to Iran's rulers growing: Nobel laureate
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Nine killed as Syrian protesters tell Assad to go
11:12am EDT
Syria tank assault kills 11 near Turkey border
Wed, Jun 29 2011
Syria activists meet, call for change to avert crisis
Mon, Jun 27 2011
Prominent Chinese dissident freed from jail
Sun, Jun 26 2011
Prominent China dissident Hu Jia freed from
Sat, Jun 25 2011
Analysis & Opinion
MQM’s pullout – Is it too late to have an impact ?
Music therapists shake off Islamic clerics’ taboo to heal disabled Iranians
Related Topics
World »
United Nations »
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi delivers her speech, 'The Role of Women in Promoting Peace in the Middle East', at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London February 2, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Toby Melville
By Adrian Croft
LONDON |
Fri Jul 1, 2011 11:27am EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - Iranian Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi believes Iran's rulers will one day be overthrown even though a crackdown there has prevented the kind of uprising seen in the Arab world.
Iran has crushed attempts to reignite Green movement protests that erupted after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, even as protests have swept presidents from power in Egypt and Tunisia and sparked violence in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain.
Ebadi, a human rights lawyer who was the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel peace prize in 2003, said Iran's Green movement had not been beaten and said the country wanted to avoid the sort of conflict that has engulfed Libya.
"It has in fact become stronger, because the movement is made up of dissidents and the number of dissidents is growing every day," Ebadi told Reuters in an interview.
Widespread human rights violations and the deteriorating economy were swelling the ranks of dissidents but protests had lessened "because anyone who takes to the street is killed or arrested," Ebadi said, speaking through an interpreter.
"The Iranian people are trying to maintain peaceful protests, which is why so far they have refused to take up arms ... The Iranian people do not want Iran to become another Libya," she said.
Nevertheless, Iran's rulers have been shaken by the Arab spring and Ebadi believes they will eventually be ousted.
"Yes definitely this regime will be overthrown, but it is not easy to predict when," she said.
Attempts to reignite Green protests in Iran in February were stifled by a huge police turnout, the death by shooting of two people during a February 14 protest, and the unofficial house arrest that has silenced the movement's leaders.
POWER STRUGGLE
Shirin said a power struggle was under way between Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, referring to xxx.
"There are even differences between the Supreme Leader and the president, between parliament and the president. All these disputes are in fact weakening the regime even more," she said.
Meanwhile, the human rights situation in Iran was deteriorating rapidly, Ebadi said, welcoming the recent appointment of a United Nations human rights investigator on Iran.
Ebadi raised concerns about the "appalling condition of political prisoners" held by Iran, saying they were put in solitary confinement "when they make the slightest protest."
"The government has never announced any figures on how many are in prison. What we know, we know through the families of these prisoners who have voluntarily told us about it and there are many whose families don't dare tell anyone that they are in prison," she said.
"Even after they execute some political prisoners, they summon the families of those prisoners and warn them not to grant interviews to any foreign media," said Ebadi, who herself spent 25 days in solitary confinement in a Tehran prison in 2000 as a result of one of her cases.
Ebadi, 63, was in London to promote her new book, "The Golden Cage," being published in Britain on July 15 by Kales Press. It tells the story of a family torn apart by the 1979 Iranian revolution and political upheavals.
Ebadi, Iran's first woman judge, lost that job following the Islamic revolution because the country's new leaders said women were too emotional to be judges. She became a human rights lawyer but, after suffering harassment, left the country in 2009 and now lives in exile in the United States.
Ebadi said the United States and other Western countries should not let their nuclear dispute with Iran outweigh human rights concerns.
"I've always said that the issue of nuclear energy must not overshadow human rights ... I think that the existence of a non-democratic country is a greater threat to international peace than even nuclear weapons," she said.
Western nations have imposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West fears is aimed at producing a nuclear weapon.
(Reporting by Adrian Croft)
World
United Nations
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Social Stream (What's this?)
© Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters
Editorial Editions:
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
United States
Reuters
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Help
Journalism Handbook
Archive
Site Index
Video Index
Reader Feedback
Mobile
Newsletters
RSS
Podcasts
Widgets
Your View
Analyst Research
Thomson Reuters
Copyright
Disclaimer
Privacy
Professional Products
Professional Products Support
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Careers
Online Products
Acquisitions Monthly
Buyouts
Venture Capital Journal
International Financing Review
Project Finance International
PEhub.com
PE Week
FindLaw
Super Lawyers Attorney Rating Service
Reuters on Facebook
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.
Other News on Friday, 1 July 2011 Venezuelans scour video for Chavez health clues
|
Analysis: U.S. overtures to Egypt Islamists show pragmatism
|
Sudan grants U.N. limited access to tense border area
|
Irish activists say Israel sabotaged flotilla vessel
|
U.S. mens volleyball has home court in World League matchup vs. Puerto Rico
Ivory Coast has urgent need to restore order: U.N.
|
Researchers say new botnet TDL-4 poses big threat
Larry Mize set to defend title at Montreal Champonship
City council to consider urban deer hunts in Morgantown, West Virginia
Mike Woodson has second interview with Pistons
China opens worlds longest sea bridge
Blazers want Greg Oden to remain in Portland; extend $8M qualifying offer
Hamels hurts hand, Red Sox blanking Phils 3-0 in seventh
Oil and gas drilling surges despite increased oversight
Google stops invitations to new social network
|
Pitbull earns first-ever #1 single on Billboard Hot 100 with 'Give Me Everything'
Facebook plans awesome launch next week: CEO
|
Judge lets Wi-Fi case proceed against Google
|
Court set to approve DBSD's $1.4 billion sale to Dish
|
Tudors star Rhys Meyers hospitalized: report
|
Comedian Colbert lampoons campaign finance laws
|
MSNBC suspends analyst Halperin for Obama remark
|
Venezuela's Chavez says he was treated for cancer
|
French arms to Libya rebels expose tensions over war
|
Failing to move Russia, EU and U.S. slam Syria at U.N.
|
Women's World Cup: France bombards Canada, Germany edges Nigeria
Greece passes second austerity legislation
Roadside bomb kills 13 Afghan civilians
|
Errors in electronic drug prescription match handwritten
No Basketball Association? League to lock out players as of midnight
Banged up, but Phils pitcher Cole Hamels will make next start
Courts Go Rough on Financial Firms That Contributed to Mortgage Collapses
International panel to probe uprising in Bahrain
|
Samsung asks ITC to stop sale of Apple smartphones, tablets
Boston bashers: Phils lose game, but not Hamels; pitcher struck by drive is OK
Adam Scott, Hunter Haas share first round lead at AT&T National
New York Proposes Ban on Fracking Near Watershed and State Land
RIM agrees to study board changes; avoids vote
|
Japan's Hoya to sell Pentax camera business to Ricoh
|
Apple, RIM in group buying Nortel's patents for $4.5 billion
|
Justin Timberlake: Stealth Silicon Valley angel?
|
Chinese police arrest 36 in Alibaba.com fraud sting
|
Thais face jail if they send campaign Tweets during poll
|
Samsung Electronics creates component division as LCD struggles
|
Tudors star Rhys Meyers hospitalized: report
|
Voice coaches to return to welcome NBC TV hit
|
Thaksin looms large as Thai parties make final campaign push
|
Nine killed as Syrian protesters tell Assad to go
|
Greek coastguard intercepts Gaza ship: activist
|
Turnout key as Moroccans vote on king's reforms
|
Opposition to Iran's rulers growing: Nobel laureate
|
Cuba plans limited housing and auto market
|
Cheyenne Woods keeps rolling at USGA women's public links
Africa's youth
Yemenis turn Friday prayers to political rallies
|
Aguilera, other coaches sign on for second season of "The Voice"
Danish company restricts distribution of drug for U.S. executions
Minnesota state government shuts down over budget impasse
U.S. government sues former astronaut over lunar camera
Eritrean refugees battle for better life in Sudan
Making the water safer
High hopes
Panetta sworn-in as new Defense Secretary
BCS chief Bill Hancock, DOJ meet on bowl selection system
FTC reviewing Twitter: reports
|
Cyber attacks outpace global response, U.S. warns
|
Facebook crashes advertising industry party
|
EU to reveal mobile roaming price cap plan
|
Germany's kitchen robots learn to be more human
|
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights