Iran's human rights situation at worst Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi

In an exclusive interview with ANI on the sidelines of the Global Justice, Love and Peace Summit in Dubai, Ebadi noted the alarming rise in executions, including the death penalty being imposed on juveniles. She emphasised the Iranian people's desire for a democratic, secular government that engages with the world, rather than remaining isolated under a dictatorship.

On the most urgent rights issues currently facing Iran and how the international community can help address them, Ebadi said, "The human rights situation in Iran is at its worst at the moment. It's very bad. There is a very high level of executions in Iran, and the death penalty has also been applied in cases of juveniles under the age of 18 in the country. The people have been protesting... The people do not want this regime. Because the regime is a dictatorship, they want a democratic and secular government, and they want their government to interact with the rest of the world, and they want this isolation to end."

The Iranian lawyer and writer who served as one of the country's first judges and was conferred with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 argued that a reinterpretation of Islam is needed to ensure women's rights are respected, stressing the importance of legal reform to end systemic gender discrimination.

When asked about the steps that can be taken to promote women's rights in Iran, she told ANI, "Since the beginning of the 1979 revolution in Iran, Iranian women gradually lost all the rights. They have been deprived of their rights, but since then, the women have defiantly started a very strong feminist movement, and I realise that the regime is applying the wrong interpretation of Islam, and thus, they are violating the rights of women in the name of Islam and under the pretext of Islam... We can be Muslims yet respect the rights of women, and that is possible. We need to change the laws in Iran..."

A report by Human Rights Watch revealed that Iran remains one of the world's top practitioners of the death penalty, applying it to individuals convicted of crimes committed as children, in cases of individuals charged with vague national security charges, and has sometimes used it for non-violent offences.

Iran was among the five countries with the highest number of executions in 2023, and the number of executions has remained high in 2024. A UN statement said that in the first half of 2024 alone, Iranian authorities executed more than 400 people. The report also found that Iranian authorities are carrying out the crime against humanity of persecution against Baha'is in Iran, the largest non-Muslim religious minority.

Iranian authorities also continue to restrict the freedoms of assembly and expression severely. In 2024, security forces arrested dozens of activists, lawyers, and students. The authorities also targeted outspoken family members of those killed or executed during the 2022 protests, who were demanding accountability for violations against their loved ones.

The HRW report also revealed that Iranian authorities intensified efforts to enforce compulsory hijab laws. They prosecuted women and girls, including celebrities, for not wearing the hijab in public, issued traffic citations to passengers without hijab, and closed businesses that did not comply with hijab laws.