ANGRY RULING CLERICS IGNORED EBADI’S PEACE PRIZE

By Safa Haeri

PARIS-TEHRAN 11 Oct. (IPS)           “No single event, short of Iran's total liberation from the bloody tentacles of the Mollahs could have brought so much joy and happiness to the Iranian people”, commented Dr Shaheen Fatemi, a veteran analyst of Iranian affairs and a respected Professor of Economics at the American University of Paris.

“This joy is not limited just to the Iranians; decent and humane people everywhere should feel vindicated and proud today. Pope John Paul and former Czech President Vaclav Havel who themselves were among those named as possible recipients of this year's Nobel Peace Prize have enthusiastically welcomed the selection of Mrs. Shirin Ebad”, he added.

“It is indeed significant that the very first Nobel Prize ever given to any Iranian is a Peace Prize awarded to an Iranian lawyer for her courageous defence of human rights victims of the Islamic Republic”, Dr Fatemi, who is also the Editor of the Paris-based internet newspaper “Iran va Jahan” (Iran and the World) went on as the ruling Iranian ayatollahs on both sides of the clerical leadership not only continued their angry silence, but went as far as accusing the Norwegian judges of a deliberate decision.

“Why not attributing the prize to Pope John Paul or other nominees, or to (the Iranian President) Mohammad Khatami who initiated the dialogue among civilisation instead of an unknown person sought by the (Iranian) justice?”, asked one hard line Iranian newspaper, reflecting the wrath of the conservative minority that rules over Iran.

The prize is a support for secular movements and against the ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution", said Hamid Reza Taraqi, a former lawmaker and member of the hard-line Islamic Coalition Society, adding that the Norwegian Nobel Committee, “against its original objectives of promoting peace, has turned into a political tool in the hand of foreigners to interfere in the internal affairs of our country”.

Another conservative-controlled paper went as far as mistaking Mrs. Ebadi with another human rights activist and also lawyer in Mrs. Mehrangiz Kaar, who is now living in the US for cancer treatment, saying that the woman who was awarded the Peace Prize is “plotting against the Islamic Republic from the United States”.

But as messages of congratulations pour from all over the world, mostly from Iranian personalities and groups of all political walk, in her first press conference, Mrs. Ebadi, who is 56, had stated that since Islam was not against freedom and justice, therefore even the ruling clerics must feel happy about the prize she won.

For its part the Nobel committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes said the decision was a message to the world.

"This is a message to the Iranian people, to the Muslim world, to the whole world, that human value, the fight for freedom, the fight for rights of women and children should be at the center," he said. "I hope the award of the peace to Ebadi can help strengthen and lend support to the cause of human rights in Iran."

The committee said Ebadi represents reformed Islam, and lauded her for arguing for a new interpretation of Islamic law which is in harmony with vital human rights such as democracy, equality before the law.

Imprisoned briefly along a colleague two years ago, Mrs. Ebadi, who is a university professor and lawyer as well as a known human rights campaigner and defending the rights of children, lost her former position as judge after the victory of the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Asked by Radio Farda if she was not afraid of being detained once back in Tehran, the first Iranian and Muslim woman to win the Peace Nobel Prize said there was nothing to be afraid since “all the statements made in interviews in the past two days are repetition of what I have always stood for in Iran itself”.

“I would continue my struggle for human rights, for more freedom and democracy and a reform in the present laws and Judiciary system in Iran”, she told the Persian service of the Prague-based Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty from Paris, where she is on a private visit.

Assuring that she would continue looking after the cases she is already defending, Mrs. Ebadi, a lawyer for the families of the victims of the murder of several veteran political and intellectual dissidents at the hands of high-ranking officials from the Information Ministry, including Dariush Foroohar and his wife Parvaneh hoped that political prisoners in Iran would have a better treatment than before.

According to human rights organisations, there are already about a dozen of influential journalists, intellectuals and politicians in Iran prisons waiting trial that is not coming.

On orders from Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, “awarded” by the Paris-based press watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres as “one of the world´s most dangerous predators of press freedom”, the Judiciar has closed more than 100 newspapers and publications. ENDS EBADI NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 111003