29 September 2009 at 17.15 Lund University Hall
Welcome address Professor Per Eriksson Vice-Chancellor of Lund University
Address Professor em. Jan Hjärpe former Professor of Islamology Lund University
Barriers to the Advancement of Human Rights in the World and in Iran Dr. Shirin Ebadi Lawyer, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in 2003
Concluding address Ambassador Hans Corell former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel of the United Nations
Chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute
Barriers to the Advancement of Human Rights in the World and in Iran (click to open the speech as a pdf document)
Shririn Ebadi
Shririn Ebadi from Iran was born in Hamedan but grew up in Tehran. She studied law at the University of Tehran where she graduated in 1968 and had a doctor’s degree with honours in private law in 1971. Dr. Ebadi pursued a career at the Justice Department. She became the first woman in Iran to serve as a judge. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, she was dismissed from the post as President of Bench 24 at the Tehran City Court, as it was considered incompatible with Islam that women served as judges. She was transferred to less significant posts within the Justice Department, a situation she found intolerable. Dr. Ebadi asked for en early retirement, a request that was granted. In 1992, Shirin Ebadi obtained a lawyers’s licence and set up her own practice. She has defended accused and represented victims in a large number of cases, many of them given much publicity. Dr. Ebadi is also engaged in university education, teaching human rights law, and has published books and written articles extensively. A prominent human rights defender, Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2003. The Norwegian Nobel Committee wrote that Dr. Ebadi was awarded the Prize ”for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children.”