Shirin Ebadi
HEADLINE: Bound but Gagged
BYLINE: By Shirin Ebadi.
Shirin Ebadi is a law professor at the University of Tehran.
DATELINE: TEHRAN
BODY:
When I received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, Iranians and Muslims around
the world hoped that the prevailing and unfair image of Muslims as terrorists
would be discarded. We believed that the prize would encourage a positive,
forward-looking understanding of Islam.
We hoped that our belief in an
interpretation of Islam that is in harmony with democracy, equality, religious
freedom and freedom of speech would reach a wider audience, particularly in the
West.
For many years now, I have wanted to write my memoir -- a book that would
help correct Western stereotypes of Islam, especially the image of Muslim women
as docile, forlorn creatures. Sixty-three percent of Iran's university students
and 43 percent of its salaried workers are women. I have wanted to tell the
story of how women in Islamic countries, even one run by a theocratic regime as
in Iran, can be active politically and professionally. It is my impression,
based on the conversations I have had during my travels in the United States and
Europe, that such a book would be a welcome addition to the debate about Islam
and the West.
So I was surprised and angered when I learned that regulations in the United
States make it nearly impossible for me to write a book for Americans. Despite
federal laws that say that American trade embargoes may not restrict the free
flow of information, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control
continues to regulate the import of books from Iran, Cuba and other countries.
In order to skirt the laws protecting the flow of information, the government
prohibits publishing ''materials not fully created and in existence.''
Therefore, I could publish my memoir in the United States, but it would be
illegal for an American literary agent, publisher, editor or translator to help
me.
Iranians and other Muslims have long placed great value on the power of the
written word. My parents taught my siblings and me that ideas on the page can be
put into action. My husband and I have passed these values to our daughters.
Iran is bursting with young, educated and dynamic people who are eager to
communicate with the American public. Many of our university students and
scholars have tried to publish their papers in leading American journals, but
they have been turned away out of fear of the Treasury Department's regulations.
An American scientific journal, for instance, recently declined to run a paper
on the human and economic consequences of the catastrophic earthquake last year
in Bam, Iran, because Iranian scientists helped write it and therefore the
journal would have to obtain a license to publish it. (Newspapers are exempt
from some of these requirements.)
Since 1979, when I was removed from the judiciary after clerics ruled that
women were too ''emotional'' to be judges, I have been defending women, children
and human rights advocates as an independent lawyer. I learned, sometimes in the
face of tragedy, that the written word is often the most powerful -- and only --
tool that we have to protect those who are powerless. Many of my cases have
placed me in opposition to hard-liners in our government. I have been harassed,
threatened and jailed for defending human rights and pursuing justice for
victims of violence: most recently when I led the legal team representing the
family of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist who was killed in
July 2003 while in detention in Tehran. (She had been arrested for taking
photographs of the families of political prisoners outside the notorious Evin
prison.)
I cannot publish my memoir in Iran. The book would either be banned
altogether or censored to such an extent that it would be rendered useless.
Publishing my book in the United States would involve risk and repercussions for
me back in Iran. I believe, however, that the message of the book is so
important that I will happily accept the risk and its possible consequences.
If even people like me -- those who advocate peace and dialogue -- are
denied the right to publish their books in the United States with the assistance
of Americans, then people will seriously question the view of the United States
as a country that advocates democracy and freedom everywhere. What is the
difference between the censorship in Iran and this censorship in the United
States? Is it not better to encourage a dialogue between Iranians and the
American public?
This is why I filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department on Oct. 26,
joining one filed in September by several American organizations representing
publishers, editors and translators. We seek to overturn the regulations on what
Americans can and cannot read in the United States.
Human rights, including the freedom to read whatever one wishes, are
universal values that transcend national boundaries. Therefore, just as I take
on court cases in Tehran to defend others' rights, so must I follow my
conscience and take on a lawsuit in the United States to defend my own rights
and the rights of Americans.
URL: https://www.nytimes.com
GRAPHIC: Drawing (Drawing by Leigh Wells)
LOAD-DATE: November 16, 2004
BYLINE: By Shirin Ebadi.
Shirin Ebadi is a law professor at the University of Tehran.
DATELINE: TEHRAN
BODY:
When I received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, Iranians and Muslims around
the world hoped that the prevailing and unfair image of Muslims as terrorists
would be discarded. We believed that the prize would encourage a positive,
forward-looking understanding of Islam.
We hoped that our belief in an
interpretation of Islam that is in harmony with democracy, equality, religious
freedom and freedom of speech would reach a wider audience, particularly in the
West.
For many years now, I have wanted to write my memoir -- a book that would
help correct Western stereotypes of Islam, especially the image of Muslim women
as docile, forlorn creatures. Sixty-three percent of Iran's university students
and 43 percent of its salaried workers are women. I have wanted to tell the
story of how women in Islamic countries, even one run by a theocratic regime as
in Iran, can be active politically and professionally. It is my impression,
based on the conversations I have had during my travels in the United States and
Europe, that such a book would be a welcome addition to the debate about Islam
and the West.
So I was surprised and angered when I learned that regulations in the United
States make it nearly impossible for me to write a book for Americans. Despite
federal laws that say that American trade embargoes may not restrict the free
flow of information, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control
continues to regulate the import of books from Iran, Cuba and other countries.
In order to skirt the laws protecting the flow of information, the government
prohibits publishing ''materials not fully created and in existence.''
Therefore, I could publish my memoir in the United States, but it would be
illegal for an American literary agent, publisher, editor or translator to help
me.
Iranians and other Muslims have long placed great value on the power of the
written word. My parents taught my siblings and me that ideas on the page can be
put into action. My husband and I have passed these values to our daughters.
Iran is bursting with young, educated and dynamic people who are eager to
communicate with the American public. Many of our university students and
scholars have tried to publish their papers in leading American journals, but
they have been turned away out of fear of the Treasury Department's regulations.
An American scientific journal, for instance, recently declined to run a paper
on the human and economic consequences of the catastrophic earthquake last year
in Bam, Iran, because Iranian scientists helped write it and therefore the
journal would have to obtain a license to publish it. (Newspapers are exempt
from some of these requirements.)
Since 1979, when I was removed from the judiciary after clerics ruled that
women were too ''emotional'' to be judges, I have been defending women, children
and human rights advocates as an independent lawyer. I learned, sometimes in the
face of tragedy, that the written word is often the most powerful -- and only --
tool that we have to protect those who are powerless. Many of my cases have
placed me in opposition to hard-liners in our government. I have been harassed,
threatened and jailed for defending human rights and pursuing justice for
victims of violence: most recently when I led the legal team representing the
family of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist who was killed in
July 2003 while in detention in Tehran. (She had been arrested for taking
photographs of the families of political prisoners outside the notorious Evin
prison.)
I cannot publish my memoir in Iran. The book would either be banned
altogether or censored to such an extent that it would be rendered useless.
Publishing my book in the United States would involve risk and repercussions for
me back in Iran. I believe, however, that the message of the book is so
important that I will happily accept the risk and its possible consequences.
If even people like me -- those who advocate peace and dialogue -- are
denied the right to publish their books in the United States with the assistance
of Americans, then people will seriously question the view of the United States
as a country that advocates democracy and freedom everywhere. What is the
difference between the censorship in Iran and this censorship in the United
States? Is it not better to encourage a dialogue between Iranians and the
American public?
This is why I filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department on Oct. 26,
joining one filed in September by several American organizations representing
publishers, editors and translators. We seek to overturn the regulations on what
Americans can and cannot read in the United States.
Human rights, including the freedom to read whatever one wishes, are
universal values that transcend national boundaries. Therefore, just as I take
on court cases in Tehran to defend others' rights, so must I follow my
conscience and take on a lawsuit in the United States to defend my own rights
and the rights of Americans.
URL: https://www.nytimes.com
GRAPHIC: Drawing (Drawing by Leigh Wells)
LOAD-DATE: November 16, 2004