Ebadi warns: Iran situation now critical
Updated on 29 July 2009
As pressure mounts on Iran’s rulers after the country’s disputed election, Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi tells Lindsey Hilsum that what is happening in her country is much worse than before.
Cracks are emerging among Iran's conservatives over the treatment of the thousands of protesters and opposition figures arrested and imprisoned.
There is growing pressure on President Ahmadinejad after Iran’s supreme leader ordered the closure of one of Iran's prisons following the death of a prominent conservative's son in detention.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has called for a nationwide vigil tomorrow for those killed in the unrest that followed the election.
Iranian human rights lawyer and Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi speaks to Lindsey Hilsum about the treatment of prisoners held in the wake of the recent protests in Iran.
She says that what is happening now in her country is much worse than before – “The situation now is critical,” she warns.
She says that bullets and imprisonment are the natural result of the lack of democracy in Iran.
And she adds that international pressure is undoubtedly effective in making the Iranian government answerable.
“If the world shows indifference, then the situation of the people of Iran will get worse,” she warns.
