Shirin Ebadi med appell til MR-miljøet
Den tidligere fredsprisvinneren ber om moralsk støtte fra verdens MR-organisasjoner når iranske myndigheter nå truer med å arrestere de ansatte på hennes MR-senter dersom de fortsetter sitt arbeid.
I en melding som Norsk PEN mottok i dag, og som er sendt til en rekke organisasjoner over hele verden, ber Shirin Ebadi om moralsk støtte fra MR-miljøet. I meldingen sier hun:
There is a very important matter I would like to discuss with you. I conduct my human rights activities through the Defender of Human Rights Center (DHRC). I am the president of this center and we have three important responsibilities:
a. We report the violations of human rights that take place in Iran.
b. We defend political prisoners pro bono — about 70% of the polit ical prisoners in Iran are clients of our center and we do not charge them for our services.
c. We support the families of these prisoners both financially — if they require financial aid — and spiritually.
This center is a member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and has been registered there. It has also been awarded a human rights prize by the Human Rights National Commission in France.
This center is very well known and credible in Iran. Two days ago the government of Iran announced that this center is illegal and provided we continue our activities, they shall arrest us. Of course me and the other members of the center do not intend to shut down the center and we shall continue our activities. However, there is a high possibility that that they will arrest us. The government’s action in this regard is illegal.
Therefore, I kindly request that you broadcast this message by all means and gather spiritual support for our center. This center has been established and working for more than four years now. I believe this decision of the government has been triggered by my memoir being published. In any case, I am happy that my memoir has been published, for the truth must be told.»
I en støtteuttalelse tidligere denne måneden, sier Sarah Leah Whitson, direktør for Midtøsten og Nordafrika avdelingen av Human Rights Watch: «The attempt to silence Shirin Ebadi’s Center is a huge setback for protecting human rights in Iran. If Ebadi is threatened for defending human rights, then no one who works for human rights can feel safe from government prosecution.»
CDHR ble grunnlagt i Teheran for fire år siden av Ebadi og andre MR-advokater. De søkte da om godkjenning fra iranske myndigheter, men, til tross for flere purringer, mottok de aldri noe svar. Iransk lov krever ikke at organisasjoner innhenter slik godkjenning, men det iranske innenriksdepartementet har nå pålagt alle nye organisasjoner å innhente godkjenning.
