Lawyers Committee Commends Decision to Award
Iranian Activist Nobel Peace Prize

NEW YORK -- The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights applauded the selection today of Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian judge, lawyer and human rights advocate, as the recipient of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.

"Shirin is the midwife of the human rights movement in Iran," said Neil Hicks, a middle east expert with the Lawyers Committee. "Her work inspired directly a generation of Iranian students who have emerged as vigorous champions of reform and human rights progress."

"The award should help energize the human rights movement in Iran," continued Hicks. "Years of repression, intimidation and harassment take their toll and this sort of international recognition helps boost the spirits of those fighting on the front lines since it signals to them that the world is watching."

The award also recognizes the important role Ebadi plays in the broader Muslim world because of her refusal to accede to state interpretations of Islam. Her support for human rights, she maintains, derives from her Muslim faith and she has been willing to argue the point publicly when the self-appointed guardians of Islam in power disagree.

"This assertion of her right as a Muslim woman to interpret her faith as she chooses, not as the state dictates, makes her a symbol of freedom of conscience and religion," added Hicks. "This places the award at the kernel of the crucial debate about reform in Iran."