Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, who won the Nobel Peace prize in 2003 for promoting human rights in her native Iran, has publicly called for the U.S. and E.U to bar Iran from using U.S. and European satellites.
Ebadi asserted that Iran would broadcast the country’s Islamic propaganda, saying, “We have to stop the government of Iran from being able to use the satellites. This way we can close down the propaganda microphones of the government.”
Ebadi has ripped the sanctions imposed on Iran for starving the people rather than weakening the government. She is derisive about the idea that Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, is more moderate than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: “The motto of Mr Rouhani was that he was going to change the conditions and this is why people voted for him. Unfortunately that’s not what happened.”
She explained that the execution rate in Iran since Rouhani’s June election is twice what it was a year ago; quoting the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), which said over 200 people were executed between June 14 and October 1. Ebadi said that was double the number of executions for the same time period in 2012. Most opposition activists imprisoned under Ahmadinejad are still in prison, and religious and ethnic minorities are still under assault, she concluded.
Noting that the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany are meeting with Iran later this week to negotiate over Iran’s nuclear program, she asserted, “My question for European countries is – what if they agree with the government of Iran on nuclear issues. Are you willing to shake hands with a government that stones women? Are you going to trust a government that executes its political opposition? Are you willing to compromise standards of human rights, that you believe in, for your own security?”
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