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Nobel Peace Laureate 2003 Dr. Shirin Ebadi, in Ottawa
highlights Human Rights in Iran -
Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon, and MP John Weston attended a press conference in Lester B. Pearson Building in Ottawa to explain the Human Right’s abuse in Iran and to express Canada’s position about this crucial matter.
Lawrence Cannon, in his statement during this press conference about Shirin Ebadi said: “Dr. Ebadi said many years ago that any person who pursues human rights in Iran must live with fear from birth to death, but she has learned to overcome that fear.”
Click to Listen:
Shirin Ebady then attended a panel of experts to offer speeches and statements about
the situation of Human Rights in Iran and ways of dealing with it. This session was
mediated by John Weston. The other panel members were Nazanin Afshin-
John Weston is the Member of Parliament for West Vancouver – Sunshine Coast – Sea to Sky Country. Elected in October 2008, he serves as a member of the Official Languages and Fisheries Standing Committees and as the first ever Government Liaison to the Canadian Persian and Iranian Community. He also served on the Public Accounts Committee. He continues to serve the people of the riding, passionately and effectively, in accordance with our values. He has assembled a great team of hard working staff and volunteers around him. John has worked closely with mayors and councillors in the riding he represents to highlight local priorities.
Click Here to Listen to John and the way he introduces the panel members.
Here is Shirin Ebadi’s statement during the panel discussion. Please click bellow.
Nazanin Afshin-
She was born in Tehran in 1979 at the height of Iran’s Islamic revolution and a year
later her family was forced to flee after her non-
After a double major degree in International Relations and Political Science at UBC, Sciences Po in Paris and the ISC in the UK, Nazanin became an advocate with the Red Cross as a Global Youth Educator on the landmine crisis and children affected by war. In 2003, she won Miss Canada and came 1st runner up at Miss World giving her the platform she sought to raise awareness and funds for the Bam Earthquake, the 2004 Tsunami, Fistula patients in Ethiopia, Variety the Children’s Charity; youth advocacy to bridge the digital divide and a movement to stop bear bile farming in Asia. In 2006 Nazanin successfully ran an international campaign to save the life of Nazanin Fatehi, a juvenile sentenced to death in Iran for stabbing in self defence one of three assailants that tried to rape her.
Nazanin’s battle against child executions continues. She co-
Meanwhile, Nazanin released a multilingual album called “Someday” charting hits in Canada, USA and Europe. Last year Nazanin was appointed to the board of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation through the office of the Prime Minister of Canada to help eliminate racism and discrimination in Canada.
Nazanin continues to address human rights abuses in China, Burma, Darfur and other countries with tyrannical regimes. She has done speeches at the UN, EU, UK, Canadian Parliament, numerous universities and conferences with media features on major television, radio and print worldwide. Nazanin is also the recipient of several human rights awards of distinction.
Through her speeches and music, Nazanin hopes to continue being a “voice for the voiceless” and deliver her messages of freedom, peace and love worldwide.
Nazanin is urging people to visit her web site StopChildExecution.com .
Click here to listen to Nazanin’s emotional and exciting speech:
Mark Dubowitz is executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
He leads FDD's Iran Energy Project focused on researching Iran's energy vulnerabilities
including the Iranian regime's dependence on refined petroleum imports as well as
the risks to foreign companies in doing business with the U.S. government-
Mark is also director of FDD's project on terrorist media focused on the use of satellite television and the internet as operational weapons by terrorist organizations.
For his policy-
Mark's work has been featured in the
Mark has briefed
the U.S. military, U.S. and European government officials, members of Congress, and
counter terrorism officials on a range of terrorism issues. He has also provided
testimony in a successful terrorism case against U.S.-
Mark previously worked in the venture capital industry focused on fundraising for
early-
Mark has lived in the Middle East, Europe,
and Africa and speaks three languages. He graduated with honours with a masters in
International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School
of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C. Mark also has JD and
MBA degrees from the University of Toronto and has studied at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, Ecole Supèrieure de Commerce de Paris and McGill University.
Click here to listen to Mark’s speech :
Nazila Fathi is the New York Times correspondent who was based in Tehran from 2001
until July 2009 when she was forced to leave the country under pressure by the government.
She has been covering Iran for the New York Times from Toronto since then. She holds
a masters degree from University of Toronto in Political Studies and Women's Studies.
She translated a book by Shirin Ebadi, the Noble Peace prize laureate, called the
History and Documentation of Human Rights in Iran, from Persian in to English in
2000.
She will be a Neiman fellow at Harvard University from September.
Click here to listen to Nazila’s speech:
Payam Akhavan is Professor of International Law at McGill University in Montreal,
Canada. He earned his Doctorate from Harvard Law School and was previously Senior
Fellow at Yale Law School and Distinguished Visiting Professor at University of Toronto.
He is the author of numerous publications and his 2001 article "Beyond Impunity"
in the American Journal of International Law has been recognized as one of “the most
significant published journal essays in contemporary legal studies.”
Professor Akhavan
was the first United Nations war crimes prosecutor at The Hague, and played a key
role in the trial of Yugoslav leaders such as President Milosevic. He also served
with the UN in Bosnia, Cambodia, Guatemala, East Timor, and Rwanda, and has been
appointed as legal counsel in leading cases before the International Court of Justice,
the International Criminal Court, and the European Court of Human Rights.
Professor
Akhavan has been a prominent advocate of human rights for Iranian political prisoners,
is Co-
Click here to listen to Payam’s speech:
Final remarks by Mark Dubowitz :
Final remarks by Nazanin Afshin-
Final remarks by Payam Akhavan :
Final remarks by Shirin Ebadi :
Final remarks by John Weston :
You may need to click the yellow bar on top and allow the blocked contents to see the audio clips.
Thanks to Ms. Farnaz Farrokhi, Ms. Wendy Noble, and Mr. Joshua Peters for all their assistance and supports during the press conference and the panel discussion. Thanks to Farideh Towhidi for providing some of the pictures.
Radio
Namaashoum -
