Latest news with #ShirinEbadi
Time Magazine
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time Magazine
The Future of Iran Belongs Only to its People
'Do you think I'll get to see Iran again?' The question hangs in the air—quiet, fragile, heavy, with longing. My father asks it in the twilight of his life, as he battles the cancer that seeks to weaken him. It is not his voice alone I hear, but the echo of millions: those who fled the land they loved, and those who remain behind, still waiting for the day Iran might be Iran again. He fled to London in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution, narrowly escaping the noose of a theocracy that replaced a fallen monarch. My father served this monarchy with loyalty, believing that for all its faults as an autocracy, it was modernizing, socially liberal, and politically reformable: the very antithesis of the Islamic Republic. Once my father left Iran, he never returned. In exile, he bore witness to a regime that mercilessly imprisoned, tortured, and murdered. A regime that severed him from his soil, but could not break his hope. And what of the others? Those who stayed. Our families and loved ones. Those who endured the lash of repression and five decades of near constant insecurity. They too ask: When will we reclaim our country from this long dark night? I grew up between the nostalgia of a homeland lost, and the reality of exile. The chants outside the Islamic Republic embassy, the clatter of Persian tea glasses at gatherings of dissidents in our cramped government housing, the news of bombings and assassinations that stole friends and fellow dreamers. That haunting blend of sorrow and defiance shaped us. And now, as war darkens our skies, we feel it again: sorrow for the innocent, hope for the fall of the tormentors. When speaking with civil society leaders inside Iran, it seems few Iranians squarely blame foreign hands for this war. Although there is a diversity of voices in any country, many Iranians ultimately believe that the Islamic Republic was never a guardian of the nation, but a keeper of its own revolution. Even its Revolutionary Guards bear no name of Iran—only of a violent ideology that devours its children and invites war upon them. In a joint statement, Iran's Nobel laureates Narges Mohammadi and Shirin Ebadi, filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, and civil society voices urged world leaders to halt uranium enrichment and end the bloodshed of innocents in Iran and Israel. Inside the country, optimism and dread wrestle for the soul of a people. For decades, many of us pleaded with world leaders: reject both appeasement and war with the Islamic Republic. There was another path—to strangle the regime and empower the people. Few chose it. Too many asked the question, ' Do the people of Iran really want change?' as if they did not hear waves of Iranian protestors chant, 'Death to the dictator' and 'Death to Khamenei' on the streets. Perhaps now—as these cries echo from the rooftops of Tehran, even under the specter of war—they will finally listen. Since the fighting began, several of the regime's architects of terror have been killed in their bunkers and beds. But with them have perished a poet, an athlete, and children —the bright promise of tomorrow extinguished alongside the darkness of the old guard. Many of us watch in anguish as our compatriots abandon their homes, desperate for a safe haven beyond the reach of oppression and destruction. As dissident rap artist Toomaj Salehi asks: 'How are over 9 million people—without fuel, often without enough savings to relocate, and with no second home in another city—supposed to evacuate Tehran?' Iranians see through the hollow outrage of regime officials who weep for civilians today, yet spilled the blood of 1,500 protesters in 2019, over 500 more during the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising of 2022, and countless others over four decades of tyranny. And yet, the regime clings to its authoritarian script: shutting down the internet, censoring its news. Instead of offering citizens protection or safe harbor in the midst of war, it forces university students to take their exams as if nothing has changed, and intensifies its crackdown on free speech. The Islamic Republic's illegitimacy is laid bare not only in its horrific human rights record but in its strategic failures. In the words of Kylie Moore-Gilbert, 'Repressing dissent, putting innocent people in prison, flubbing operations abroad—Iran just can't seem to get out of its own way.' And recently, Israeli spies and pilots have managed to cripple Iranian counterstrike capabilities. True advocates of peace reject both wars of aggression and terror in all its forms. Indifference to the latter undermines any genuine commitment to the former. No external power will rescue Iran. The age of foreign saviors is over. We do not live in a world of singular empires or simple alliances. Every nation must tend its own garden. But no soil stands apart. For nearly half a century, the regime in Iran has poisoned more than its own land—its blight has spread to Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Lebanon. Iran's fate will, and should, be written by Iranians—not in foreign capitals or closed rooms, but on their own streets, with their own voices, and through their own struggle. And as long as those who dream of liberal democracy remain divided, as long as personal ambitions, old wounds, and ideological divides stand in the way of common purpose—I fear the answer to my father's question. For the sake of a free Iran, a stable region and a world at peace—as we urge restraint and adherence to international law—we must also ensure the sovereignty of the Iranian people, not their oppressors.
LBCI
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- LBCI
Iranian Nobel laureates, Cannes winner urge halt to Iran-Israel conflict
Leading Iranian activists and filmmakers on Monday called for an end to hostilities between Iran and Israel, urging Tehran to stop the conflict by halting its enrichment of uranium. "We demand the immediate halt of uranium enrichment by the Islamic Republic, the cessation of military hostilities, an end to attacks on vital infrastructure in both Iran and Israel and the stopping of massacres of civilians in both countries," said the activists in an op-ed in French newspaper Le Monde. The signatories included Nobel Peace Prize winners Shirin Ebadi and Narges Mohammadi, as well as the winner of the top prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Jafar Panahi, and his fellow director, Mohammad Rassoulof. AFP
France 24
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- France 24
Iranian Nobel laureates, Cannes winner urge halt to Iran-Israel conflict
"We demand the immediate halt of uranium enrichment by the Islamic Republic, the cessation of military hostilities, an end to attacks on vital infrastructure in both Iran and Israel, and the stopping of massacres of civilians in both countries," said the activists in an op-ed in French newspaper Le Monde. The signatories included Nobel peace prize winners Shirin Ebadi and Narges Mohammadi, as well as the winner of the top prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Jafar Panahi, and his fellow director Mohammad Rassoulof. Iran's enrichment of uranium has for decades been a cause of tension with the West and Israel, which fear the drive is aimed at making an atomic bomb, a charge denied by Tehran. "We believe that continuing uranium enrichment and the devastating war between the Islamic Republic and the Israeli regime neither serves the Iranian people nor humanity at large," said the signatories who also included the rights activists Sedigheh Vasmaghi, Shahnaz Akmali and Abdolfattah Soltani. "Uranium enrichment is in no way in the interest of the Iranian people. They must not be sacrificed for the nuclear or geopolitical ambitions of an authoritarian regime," they said. Calling on the Iranian leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down, they said: "The current leaders of the Islamic Republic lack the capacity to resolve Iran's domestic crises or its external tensions." "The only credible path to preserve this country and its people is for current authorities to step down." Panahi returned to Iran last month after winning the Palme d'Or for his latest movie, "It Was Just an Accident", but has been presenting his work this month at a film festival in Australia. Rassoulof, whose latest film was shown at the 2024 festival, now lives in exile after escaping clandestinely that year. Ebadi, who won the 2023 Nobel peace prize, also now lives abroad. Mohammadi, the 2023 laureate, remains in Iran and his currently on leave for health reasons from a prison term. © 2025 AFP
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nobel laureates urge frozen Russian funds to be used for Ukraine
Frozen Russian assets should be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine and compensation to the victims of the war following a peace agreement, according to an appeal signed by more than 130 Nobel laureates. The signatories include Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, Polish activist Lech Wałęsa, authors Elfriede Jelinek, Herta Müller and Orhan Pamuk, physicists Reinhard Genzel, Ferenc Krausz and Roger Penrose, chemists Michael Levitt and Gerhard Ertl, biologist Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and economist Edmund S Phelps. The petition is to be handed over soon to Oleksandra Matviichuk, who heads Ukraine's Centre for Civil Liberties, which was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. The petition notes that Russian central bank assets totalling around €300 billion ($3.25 billion) are currently frozen as a result of sanctions imposed in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The funds are held in bank accounts in the countries of the G7 and the European Union and are generating interest. "We, the Nobel Laureates who have signed this appeal, call on these governments to release these funds from the Russian Central Bank to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine and compensation of war victims so that the country can be rapidly rebuilt after a peace agreement is reached," the petition says. New laws might be needed, but this was necessary "given the undeniable emergency and gross violations of international law," it says. In July last year, the EU released €1.5 billion in interest from the Russian assets to pay for armaments for Ukraine. According to the EU Commission, some €210 billion is currently frozen in the EU. Making use of the funds would require a dispossession order.
