Iran's Ebadi says country's human rights record at "all time low"

Mar 9, 2011, 10:37 GMT

Geneva - Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi on Wednesday lashed out at her government's crackdown on political opposition movements, saying it was a sign of weakness.

'In the past 32 years of the Islamic republic rule, human rights have never been good, but today they are at an all time low,' Ebadi told journalists on the sidelines of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Some members of the council, including the United States and Sweden, are pushing for the creation of an independent monitor for human rights in Iran. Ebadi said she supported creating such a post, as it would 'at least help to reveal the truth' about developments in the country.

Ebadi, who has been forced into exile since the disputed elections of 2009, says her husband and sister were arrested by the authorities, along with scores of journalists, bloggers and activists.

'The aim of arresting my husband and sister was to make me stop my activities. But I have no intention to do what they want me to do and stop my activities,' said Ebadi, noting that as she is in exile and critical of the government, her assets in Iran have been frozen.

'The state's behaviour has become more violent following the protests of 2009,' the 2003 peace prize winner commented, adding this was being compounded by a incoherent foreign policy and a domestic regime which oversaw high inflation and rising unemployment.

'This shows the weakness of the government. A government that is weak becomes violent,' said Ebadi, a lawyer.

But despite the dissatisfaction of the people, Ebadi said that Iran differed from other Middle Eastern countries seeing revolutions at the moment.

'In Egypt the army declared itself neutral. They refused to fire at their people. In Iran, however, the real power is in the Revolutionary Guard force. That is the reason the people in Iran have not met the same success as in Tunisia, even though the Iranians are more unhappy,' she said.

Attacks against opposition protests, sometimes lethal, as well as the arrest of leading anti-government figures, has intimidated people, Ebadi also implied.

She cited this week's political moves, which saw former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani lose a key official post because of his opposition to hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as a sign of further radicalisation.

Ebadi urged European nations, especially ones with high trade volumes with Iran, such as Germany and Austria, to take stronger action to protect human rights and not only look at Tehran's compliance with nuclear rules.

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