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Washington DC— Speaking before an audience of NIAC members this past Saturday, Dr. Shirin Ebadi encouraged international focus on the human rights situation in Iran and warned that war, or threats of an attack on Iran, would be devastating for the country’s indigenous human rights and democracy movement.

“Wars and military attacks in nondemocratic countries should be forgotten because dictators actually like to be attacked by foreigners so that, on the excuse of national security, they can put away their opposition.”

Before the event, which was hosted by NIAC in McLean, Virginia, Ebadi sat down for an interview with NIAC President Trita Parsi and Dr. Hazhir Rahmandad, a NIAC member and associate professor of industrial and systems engineering at Virginia Tech.

Ebadi said political sanctions focused on human rights violators are far more effective than economicEbadi Audience sanctions. She commended U.S. and European Union efforts to implement human rights sanctions targeted against Iranian government officials complicit in the repression of Iranians. “These kind of sanctions are smart sanctions, meaning that it does not punish all of the people of one country, but only those who have committed the crimes.”

She called for human rights violators in Iran’s government to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC), but noted that the U.S. has refused to ratify the ICC convention. Endorsing the ICC, Ebadi said, is the mo... >>>