"When there is injustice to one people and there is no way of receiving justice and when several generations live under the poverty line and there is no hope for the improvement of their lives, they may forget their sanity because of hopelessness. And thus they may resort to violence.” - Shirin Ebadi

Shirin Ebadi was born in northwest Iran in 1947, in the city of Hamedan. She has two sisters and a brother all of whom are highly educated. When she was one year old, her family moved to Tehran, the capital of Iran. On warm summer evenings, Shirin and her siblings moved their beds outside to take in the sweet smelling air and the clear night sky. Growing up, Dr. Ebadi and her brothers were treated as equals by their parents. Dr. Ebadi did not realize that her female friends, like most Iranian girls, were treated much differently than their brothers at home. In Iran, most boys received more attention from their fathers. They were disciplined less frequently and enjoyed more affection from aunts and female relatives.

Dr. Ebadi attended Firuzkuhi primary school and went on to Anoshiravn Dadgar and Reza Shah Kabir secondary schools. She received her law degree in three-and-a-half years then took the entrance exams for the Department of Justice. After a six-month apprenticeship in adjudication, Dr. Ebadi started serving officially as a judge in March 1969. She was only 22 years old and she was the first woman in the history of Iran to serve as a judge. While serving as a judge, Dr. Ebadi continued her education and received a doctorate in law from Tehran University in 1971.

In the 1970’s, Iran was in a state of unrest. People were growing increasingly upset with the Monarchy, specifically the practices of the Shah, In 1978 a revolution began. 1979 the Shah was overthrown and the Ayatollah (a title given to high ranking religious leaders) Khomeini came into power as the new ruler of Iran. Unfortunately, many of the Iranian people did not foresee that the Ayatollah and his ruling party would take away most of the rights of women and other minority groups in Iran. In 1979 the new leadership declared that it was no longer legal for women to serve as judges. All female judges were dismissed from their posts and given clerical jobs. Dr. Ebadi, outraged by the situation, requested an early retirement. For several years she stayed at home taking care of her two daughters, writing books, and working to get her job back.

After many years of trying to return to the bench as a judge, in 1992 Dr. Ebadi succeeded in obtaining a lawyer's license and set up her own practice. As a lawyer, Shirin took cases that involved the unfair treatment of women and children because the conservative leadership had stripped so many rights of these specific groups. Dr, Ebadi has defended many high-profile cases. She represented the families of serial murder victims and Ezzat Ebrahiminejad, who was killed during the attack on the university dormitory. She also took on a large number of social cases, too, including child abuse.

“From childhood, I fell in love with a phenomenon I later learned was justice. When I was a child and saw other children fighting I would go aid the underdog, without even knowing what they were fighting about, which would also cause me to get in the middle and get beaten. That is why I later became a student of law. And later, because of this feeling, I became a judge, as I thought I could help execute and bring about justice. When the Islamic Revolution came about and said a woman could no longer be a judge, I changed my job, and became a lawyer. It was the same feeling that encouraged me to become active in defending human rights.”

Several years ago, Dr. Ebadi began to receive threats of incarceration and even death from the Iranian government. Regardless, she continued her work human rights and challenged the unjust treatment of people in Iran stating that “human rights is a universal standard. It is a component of every religion and every civilization.”

In 2003, Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts for peace and women's rights in Iran and across the Middle East. She continues to live in Iran, working to defend the human rights of all people.

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