Modern Day Hero: Shirin Ebadi by Ula Bitinaitis

Modern Day Hero: Shirin Ebadi by Ula Bitinaitis

Shirin Ebadi is a powerful women's rights, political freedom and human rights activist who is commonly known for two core things; firstly, she's won a Nobel Peace Prize, and secondly, she was the first female judge ever appointed in Iran.

Born on June 21st, 1947, Ebadi grew up in northwestern Iran in a city named Hamedan. Despite justices only being male at the time, she pursued a career in law in hopes to become one. However, in the midst of her flourishing career, the Islamic Revolution occurred in 1979. Under this new regime, rights and freedoms were restricted moreso than seen before; thus, Ebadi's position as a female judge was put at stake. As women were forbade from positions of power, she stepped down from her job. But as the repression and hidden mutiny grew between the people of Iran, Ebadi strived to focus on human rights law.

Ebadi managed to do a miriad of things in hopes of combatting this inequitable system, including purposely taking on court cases involving the human rights of Iran's inhabitants, particularly those of women and children. The repressive and patriarchal policies soon fell hard as she continued to win cases after cases. Soon, she esablished the Association for the Support of Children's Rights in Iran, and was a founding member of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in the city of Tehran. She didn't reside just in the middle east, though; she traveled the world spreading the call for protections of human rights and the necessities of them. Similar to the Anglo-Saxons, she persevered in times of seemingly ultimate defeat; rising up to grab chances when the possibilities are slim, she defied the norms of the new regime and, quite literally, acted as a valiant symbol; one of the definitions of heroism.


Picture and information sourced from http://www.infinitefire.org/bio/luminary/shirin-ebadi/