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by Hemantha Warnakulasuriya

Some of the most virulent battles that men fought over the course of centuries were in the defence of women and children against marauding rapists and barbarian hordes. It is the duty of civilized society to protect the rights of females and children from any laws that may infringe their rights. The battle for the rights of women has been fought over the centuries.

A civilized society is a society that protects the rights of women and children. In fact the degree of civility could be measured by the manner in which the women and children are treated.

In Iran after the Islamic revolution the women were relegated to being virtual salves and the children had no rights at all. The Ayatollahs ran Iran as a model Shiite Islamic state where women were decreed to cover their bodies with Purdah. During the time of the Shah certain aspects of Western culture were introduced by which the women were employed to prevent their men entering into any political struggle against the tyrannical regime. The women came to the fore in the Islamic revolution that followed the overthrow of the Shah in the belief that Islam in its pristine form would believe in gender equality.

The anger of the people against the Shah for having aped the West and subverting the culture of Iran was such that whatever that was decreed by the Mullahs became absolute law. The 19th century concept of man's superiority over woman came to be the law of the land.

However the intellectuals and the liberals resisted the moves and had unparallel success is striving to liberate women from the bondage of literal slavery and uncompromising male dominance. Any movement to liberate women was considered a Satanic force which drew inspiration from the decadent West, which was considered as being bell bent on destroying the Islamic revolution.

Counter move

To contain the movement to liberate Iran from the religious depots who formed the government, there was a counter move by the vigilantes of the government of the clerics to kill writers and intellectuals. There were a series of serial killings of those believed to be Western agents who worked tirelessly to liberate women and children.

These writers were killed along with their families. Shirin Ebadi had been first woman president-judge of the city court of Teheran. A few years following the Islamic revolution she was removed from that position as the clerics and the Ayatollahs believed that no woman is rational or intelligent enough to hold the scales evenly. She also revealed those who were behind the attacks on the students at the Teheran University. As a consequence to these activities and also due to her forthrightness Ebadi was imprisoned on several occasions.

Unshaken

She, being a woman, never relented in her quest to establish the basic human rights of the Iranian people. She knew that just as her friends she, too could have been killed by the despotic regimes of the Mullahs, they would not give a dime to murder anyone who is opposed to the Islamic Revolutions. The fate of the intellectuals and the writers who wrote very mildly on the need for a structural alteration in Islamic thinking for safeguarding the rights of women and children, were considered the agents of Satan and entire families killed as a result. Shirin Ebadi was unshaken.

At any given moment the vigilants of the despotic regime would snuff her life out. To undermine the conspiracies, she appealed to the West.

She established the maligned concept of a Non Governmental Organization in the name of "The association for Support of Children's Rights in Iran". Ms. Ebadi wrote a number of academic books and articles focusing on human rights. Among her books "The Rights of the Child: A Study of Legal Aspects of Children's Rights in Iran History and Documentation of Human Rights in Iran" was translated into English.

Unceasingly she called for reforms in Iran. She made her voice heard among the voiceless women in Iran. The most difficult of all forces to counter among dogmas is religious dogmatism. In a patriarchal society still emerging from the dark ages the right to suppress any section of the community is considered one of the privileges of the oppressor.

In the name of Islam, the Mullahs transformed women into faceless, soulless entities. To wrestle against such demonic powerful religious hegemony only meant death. But the world opinion was on her side. The world was looking at Ebadi with awe. She was jailed for appearing for the families who were the victims of serial killings.

The courage of this woman was incredible. At times she fought the oppressors all by herself. She believed the history of a nation, its monuments, culture and religious dogmatism alone would not make a nation civilized. It was the treatment of women and children that was the mirror that reflected the degree of civilization in the case of any nation.

Catalyst

When she won the Nobel Peace Prize, the government, instead of falling at her feet for having bestowed such an honour became utterly embarrassed. Iran's conservatives accused the Nobel Committee of pandering to the West's political agenda by awarding its Peace Prize to Ebadi. However, the reformists hailed her as a catalyst for much needed change.

The cell phones were buzzing. Under the Purdah and the veil the women were phonin their friends to talk of the prize that she had won. To them it was victory that may bring reforms and change the attitude of the government.

They have been long suppressed by the implementation of Islamic laws that were falsely interpreted. It was Ebadi who strove to inculcate among them at Islam, like most other religious beliefs, believed in the rights for women. The Nobel Committee's decision was made in her favour overriding the nomination of Pope John Paul II, who the BBC termed as the bookies favourite, "a sound professional, a courageous person" who was "never heeded threats to his own safety".

Let's hope the prophetic message of the Chairman of the Committee who decided in her favour will hold to be true:

"This is a message to the Iranian people, to the Muslim world, to the whole world, that human values, the fight for freedom, the fight for rights of women and children should be at the centre."

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