Iran: Officials Ban Rights Group Led By Nobel Peace Laureate

[democratic]

http://www.unpo.org/article.php?id=5152

2006-08-15

Iran has banned a rights group led by the country's 2003 Nobel Peace laureate, Shirin Ebadi. The Interior Ministry said on August 2 that Ebadi's Center of Human Rights Defenders failed to obtain a valid operating permit and warned that any related activities could be prosecuted. The center has been an ardent voice for human and minority rights in Iran since its inception.

The Interior Ministry says in its statement that the Center of Human Rights Defenders had no official permit and its activities were therefore "illegal."

But Shirin Ebadi, who leads the group, tells RFE/RL that her group has been operating in Iran legally. Ebadi is a lawyer by profession. She says she thinks it is the Interior Ministry's statement that violates Iranian law.