Iran’s Nobel Winner Says No to Court
Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has told Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Court on Saturday that she will not obey a summons to appear, even if it means her arrest.
The decision by Ebadi, the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, marks an open challenge to a powerful body that has convicted many political activists, intellectuals and writers on vague charges of endangering national security and discrediting the ruling Islamic establishment.
In an interview with Associated Press, Ebadi said she wrote to the court Saturday, saying she would not obey the summons, which was issued Wednesday and gave her three days to appear. Ebadi called the summons illegal because it did not specify a reason for her to appear. She said its deadline was today because she received it Thursday.
“This is intimidation. My record shows that I won’t give in to intimidation,” said the 57-year-old Ebadi, who won the peace prize in 2003.
The Revolutionary Court had ordered Ebadi to appear for “some explanations” or face arrest. It did not elaborate.
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