Defending Iranian Democracy

EBADI

Ebadi is the person who doesn't know what to do and where she is.

She is just like every Islmist ruling member of Iran, recognize herself first Muslim then Iranian and for someone like her who has the international status, must represent whole Iran and if she is for human rights and democracy, she must represent Iran, not Islam, Islam is the nation or the country.

this lady was judge in shah time and yet she is comparing shah time with IRI and she says in this regime you have more freedom to complain about regime but it is ironic that she is sitting in western countries and complaining about freedom of shah time, seems she forgets that it was in shah time that she became Judge and that is impossible in this regime, this lady she mingles with IRI lobbyist and anyone who are directly and indirectly involved with regime and in her small world she think Islam is way of democracy.

what is stopping our nation to rise is people like her who are defending Islamic values and people who want democracy in Iran getting disappointed when they hear people like her lecturing in western countries and one must judge for themselves why are these people are more than ever move to western countries and still attached to regime.

Here we go again

Two Simple questions and no answers, I thought so.

Ebadi is a paradox

She deserves recognition and admiration for her defence of human rights and standing up for many who have been persecuted by the Islamic Republic in Iran.

On the other hand, she has been on record praising many aspects of the Islamic Republic (certainly preferring it over the previous regime) and always stating that the regime can be reformed. At least this was the case up until her recent exile.

But even now that she has effectively fled Iran, since IR would incarcerate her should she go back, she is not calling for the removal of the Islamic Republic!

I don't know why she prefers to declare herself a Muslim in her public speeches, as opposed to an Iranian, but I guess that's her choice and her right. Maybe it's because she really is a devout Muslim or maybe she still wishes not to totally burn the bridge to the regime in Iran. Who knows.

Is she an agent of the West? Well, as always, it's easy to accuse, but not so easy to prove. Nevertheless, this doesn't us Iranians forever making accusations without backing them up, myself included.

SOH & Mammad

I would be happy if Dr. Ebadi had introduced hersef as AN IRANIAN Woman rather than a moslem woman.  Religion is a private/personal matter and I am sure She must know that. Noone introduces her/his self with her/his religion.

Evin prision is not that bad

This is what Shirin Ebadi said in an interview in 2001
//payvand.com/news/03/oct/1058.html
During her noble prize acceptance speech she criticized Guantanamo, occupation of the Palestinian territories but no mention of Evin.
//nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/laureates/laureat...
By the way Mr. Mammad now that you say you are "a family friend for decades." can you  tell us why she wrote a letter to the judge and asked for leniency while she knew that the money belonged to the people of Iran and not to Mr. Mahmud Banki (the young guy's father).
//www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/17/world/ma...
by the way this young guy (Mahmoud-Reza) is Taleghani's grandson.

unless you expect me to call CIA or MI5/6 ....

Make no mistake; she and IRI are both the mercenaries of Western Powers.

Now, unless you expect me to call CIA or MI5/6 for a copy of conspiracy document, to get the proof you need you should provide the answers to the following questions for me. And please only clear and short answers.

-        
Is Islam in violation of Human Rights or not? Just yes or no.

-        
Why the recipient of Nobel Peace Prize for human rights becomes a propaganda machine for Islam?

Kayhan of Shariatmadari

says the same. Go figure!

Mammad

Shameful, disgraceful

Is what this entire blog is. I have no idea what is happening to this site. Such article would not be even published in Islamist regime's rag, keyhan...

Dr. Rastani. Do you have a single shred of evidence proving your claim?

"She is nothing more than a mercenary
puppet of Western Powers, that is what she is."

If you have, produce it. We are waiting......

Else, please have the decency of retracting it

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."

She is nothing more than .....

She is nothing more than a mercenary
puppet of Western Powers, that is what she is.

Ebadi

is hard for me to describe. I have at times been very critical of her. At other times not so much. Honestly we are all in a bad situation. IRI is making life miserable for Iranians. Depending on the point of view we reach differently.

• A Muslim may feel angry that their religion is being tarnished by actions of IRI.
• A secular person like myself does not even want religion involved in government.
• Nationalists feel IRI is ruining our national heritage.

There are many other issues. The short of it is this: as an individual Ebadi may say whatever she wans. Now if she wants to be a leading politician she needs to placate the nationalists. That means being Iranian first.

I don't know what she wants. Maybe she wants to remain in good graces of IRI. So that she can influence them. Maybe she really feels more a Muslim than Iranian. I just don't know. I do know that to be a leader she has to put Iran first.

Odd it is

It is odd because Islam is in violation of Human Rights. Defending Islam means violating Human Rights.

Since you are beneficiary on all this, your justification is biased and does not make any sense, which make you unqualified person to make comment on this posting.

My recommendation for you would be to quit making further comments. Of course you are free to do so however would not be worth of further responding.

No it is not odd

that Shirin Ebadi wants to be remembered as a Muslim woman working to stop abuse of Islam for crimes committed in Iran. Why is that odd? The fact of the matter is, Islam has been used in Iran by the reactionaries and criminals to "justify" what they have done. Ebadi, a human rights aqdvocate and practicing Muslim wants to put an end to it. Why is this odd, or bad? She also did not "confess," as claimed. She has said this hundreds of times. I know it because I translated her speaches for her for quite sometime and have been a family friend for decades.

The very fact that the author calls Ebadi a Western puppet and others appeasers of the VF regime only goes to show that Ebadi, with all of her shortcomings and strengths, is an independent thinker.

It is also a "novel" that the author claims that Western powers have imposed Islam on poor nations. Others on this website - the "super patriots" - have always claimed that Arabs imposed Islam on Iran and elsewhere! Go figure!

Mammad

The confession is crystal clear

The viewpoint of this video clip cannot be perceived by those persons, whose emotions become their platform of launching their hasty judgments. Only those who think before they talk or write can get the point of this clip.

The key point of this video clip is the confession of Shirin Ebadi where she admits that she wants to be remembered in history as a Muslim woman, who has spent her whole life making efforts to stop the misuse of Islam.  On a common sense basis, isn’t this statement coming odd to anyone? If she receives Nobel Peace Prize for her human rights activities, why should she desire to be
remembered as a Muslim whose entire life was spent over defending
Islam? Isn’t this an honest confession that she cared much about Islam than about the well beings of her oppressed people?

The fact of the matter is what the history has shown to us that on occasions Western Powers have been making such blown-up puppets so that they could use them when the time calls for it in order to continue with their evilly domination policy over the 3rd world
countries. By imposing Islam over the poor and left-behind nations they can span bridges to flow their plundered natural wealth to their national treasuries and stay dominant and in power.

Characters such as Shirin Ebadi who are just mercenary puppets of Western Powers will never be remembered by the people, they go as they come and as a result their names will be dissipated over time.  Great individuals like Aung San Suu Kyi whose only worries are just the people and their well beings may be considered dangerous species to the Western Powers, however they are those who will be remembered  as the true national heroes not only for the people of that country but for the residents of Earth.

Mansur Rastani, PhD

//DefendingIranianDemocracy.blogspot.com/

Poor Ebadi. She has done

Poor Ebadi. She has done the best she could under the cirumstances. To malign her character in such a  vicious fashion is beyond meanspirited and frankly very repulsive. 

"Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe." Robert Browning in 'Ceuciaja'

I am amazed

that people are "surprised" because Ebadi introduced herself as Muslim! Why? She believes in her religion. What is wrong with it? Who says that not believing in Islam is "coming to one's sense"? Is there a place for religion as a private matter? Is there a place for respecting people's belief, especially one such as Ebadi?

Islamic teachings, like any other religion's, are interpreted widely differently. We have right-wing Christian reactionaries in this country and elsewhere that want to control everything and killed hundreds of thousands during colonization of Africa and Latin America, in the Middle East (and continuing), and in the Balkans, but we also have liberation theology in Latin America which was a leading force against fascist military dictatorships supported by the U.S.

We have progressive Jews that support Palestinians, and even believe that Israel should not have formed, but we also have fascist Jews that want to take over the entire West Bank and expell Palestinians to Jordan.

Same thing with Islam. We have Sayyed Jamal-olddin Asadabadi, Naeini, Taleghani, Zanjani, Bazargan, the Sahabis, Shariati, Hoda Saber, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Taghi Rahmaqni, Reza Alijani, Emad Bahavar, Zeidabadi, ....but we also have the fascist mullahs and their supporters.

And, who is Dr. Rastani to attack Ebadi for leaving her country? Where is he now, where was he over the last 30 years, and what has he done over this period? Ebadi left in 2009, not because she wanted to leave Iran, but for her visits. The circumsances did not allow her to go back. Before that she was highly active in Iran for over two decades, went to jail for it, and she and her family were, and have been, constantly harrassed. Her belongings were confiscated by the VF regime and sold last year. Her sister, a totally non-political dentis, was thrown in jail because she was Shirin's sister, and had a heart attack there. Her brother, a professor of economics, is constantly harrassed and threatened. And, for all of this, she is accused of "appeasing" the VF regime.I guess only if Ebadi is murdered by the VF regime, she can be considered as a patriot.

Such blogs, for which Iranian.com has a well-deserved reputation, are all the same: demonizing Muslims and Islam in the name of democracy. This is not democracy, far from it. At least have the decency to acknowledge it.

Mammad

To Maryam Hojjat

Dr. Ebadi is very Controversial

I have mentioned this many times.  I was unhappy when she introduced herself a moslem woman in her nobel prize ceremony.  I sometimes feel sorry for her that if she is trying to appease IRR with talking about goodness of ISlam.  After 33 yrs of this barbaric regime she has not come to her senses.