By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
06 November, 2013
@ Countercurrents.org
On November 4th, Iranian lawyer and the 2003 Nobel Laureate announced that the United States and Europe should ban Iran from using broadcast satellites. Censor them, is what this ‘human rights’ advocate is suggesting. Shocking as this is, given Ebadi’s track record, the call for censorship comes as no surprise. She is, after all, a former judge.
During the brutal dictatorship of the Shah of Iran, Ebadi was a judge (she managed to become a “judge” with an undergrad degree – without legal practice experience, simply by passing a ‘qualification exam to become a judge!). One can only surmise what the ‘qualification exam’ consisted of, however, a cursory look at the political environment of the time may shed light on the judgeship qualifications of Ebadi.
Ebadi, today’s ‘human rights’ activist, enjoyed the status and privileges of a judge at a time when the Shah’s secret police (SAVAK) trained by the CIA and Mossad , engaged in brutal torture. According to Amnesty International, the methods included “whipping and beating, electric shocks, extraction of teeth and nails, boiling water pumped into the rectum, heavy weights hung on the testicles, tying the prisoner to a metal table heated to a white heat, inserting a broken bottle into the anus, and rape.” As one of its many “friendly” dictators, the US covered up the crimes with censorship.
The United States did more than train torturers and keep it under wraps. But the US did much more for its pet dictator. Right up until the 1979 Iranian Revolution, “the CIA worked with SAVAK, the shah’s secret police, to destroy “antishah” elements in the Iranian student community in the United States. The CIA and SAVAK set up a front group called the International Association of Patriotic Students (IAPS), which organized demonstrations in favor of the shah and beat up students who differed with their view of the ruler.” Ebadi’s judgeship remained in tact, as did human rights violations, and the censorship of these crimes. Judge Ebadi was silent – engulfed in a culture of abuse and censorship. The 1979 Iranian Revolution put an end to her career as a judge. She was forced to practice law instead of passing judgment!
After the Revolution, Ebadi sank into obscurity – and resurfaced in 2002. She appeared in the headlines as the Founder of ‘Defenders of Human Rights Center’. Their website states: “Defenders of Human Rights Center (http://www.humanrights-ir.org/english/) was first established in Iran in 2002 at the initiative of the Nobel Peace Laureate Shiring [sic]Ebadi”. Ebadi was given the Noble Peace prize in 2003. No longer a judge, Ebadi dedicated her time to defending the rights of all those opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran at the exclusion of the rights of all Iranians and Iran. She was awarded a Nobel Peace prize in 2003.
The Nobel gave her the necessary platform to undermine the government in Tehran – at a cost to the Iranian nation. In 2010, this ‘human rights’ attorney displayed a total disregard for human life and international law as reported by Foreign Policy. Referring to sanctions, Ebadi “insisted” that “Iranians will endure considerable hardship if they think the endgame is greater respect for human rights”.
This ‘human rights advocate and attorney further opined that the United States should use VOA and Radio Farda to reach Iranians inside Iran ‘”to convince them that the sanctions are targeted at the regime and not the ordinary Iranians”. (Perhaps she is of the opinion that had VOA broadcasted into Iraq, the lives of 500,000 children would have been spared by sanctions. ) However, in spite of daily broadcast into Iran, sanctions continue to take lives. No amount of radio wave has managed to save lives.
So while Ebadi, former judge, ‘human rights’ advocate, recommends the violation of a bilateral agreement – the Algiers Accords, Point I.1 of which states: “The United States pledge that it is and from now will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran’s internal affairs.” ( Per Article VI of the Algiers Accords, the violated party, Iran, has the right to refer the matter to the Tribunal at Hague, the Netherlands, where the International Court of Justice will have jurisdiction) by encouraging US government broadcasts into Iran, she is calling for the censorship of Iranian broadcast .
In 2010, Ebadi [wishfully] predicted the end of the Islamic Republic. Her hopes were dashed with the election of Rohani and the popular support behind him. But clearly her ambition is unchecked. As such, one has to wonder what will be the next game plan for this ‘human rights’ activist who advocates death (sanctions) and censorship.
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich is an independent researcher and writer with a focus on U.S. foreign policy.