Ebadi calls revived Teheran protests as "historic"

Jul 18, 2009, 11:12 GMT

   Hamburg - Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi has praised this week's revival of mass protest in Teheran, telling the German news magazine Der Spiegel Saturday it marked an historic shift.

'This rally by the reform movement is an historic event not only for Iran but for the whole Islamic world,' Ebadi, a lawyer and human rights activist, said. 'The slogans, 'Death to China' and 'Death to Russia,' are important.

'The people have realized who has been on the regime's side for decades: two nations which themselves breach human rights on a large scale,' she said.

Ebadi also welcomed the support for the Friday prayers crowd at Teheran University from former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who had been silent for weeks about challenges to the outcome of the June 12 election.

'Rafsanjani was critical, though not resolutely enough,' she said of his Friday speech.

She called for the Iranian leadership to 'respect the will of the people' and cease attempts to put down the protests by force. She said the leadership had to offer concessions 'or the protests will continue.'