The Current

Exiled Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi fights for Iranians in new memoir

They harassed her, intimidated her and jailed her but nothing Iranian intelligence could do would dent Shirin Ebadi's determination to speak up for human rights for Iranian citizens. Shirin Ebadi lives in exile and tells The Current why she'll never give up the fight.
In 2003, Iranian lawyer, human rights activist Shirin Ebadi became the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. (Jefferson Bernardes/AFP/Getty Images)

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By the time Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 - the first woman from the Islamic world to so - the Iranian lawyer and human rights activist had already paid a steep price for her convictions.

Shirin Ebadi had been Iran's first female judge, but was dismissed following the 1979 revolution and spent subsequent years defending those persecuted by authorities, only to be jailed herself for criticizing the system. 

Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi's new memoir is called Until We Are Free: My Fight for Human Rights in Iran. (Joel Sagat/AFP/Getty Images)

The Iranian intelligence agency that had hounded her for years, would ultimately turn her own husband against her. They lured him into meeting with another woman. And when he cheated, they had proof. She was betrayed by both her husband and country.

...if my husband did something wrong, that is between me and him.  The government did not have the right to do such a thing.- Shirin Ebadi on Iranian intelligence involving husband to betray her

But nothing could stop Shirin Ebadi's campaign to speak up for human rights for her fellow Iranian citizens.

Shirin Ebadi lives in exile and shares her story in her memoir, Until We Are Free: My Fight for Human Rights in Iran. 

Shirin Ebadi joined The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti from Chicago, with translator Shirin Ershadi.
 

This segment was produced by The Current's Lara O'Brien.