MEDIA CONTACT: Wendy Leopold at 847-491-4890 or w-leopold@northwestern.edu

May 10, 2005

Nobel Peace Prize Winner to Lecture

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi -- a tireless advocate for the rights of women and children in Iran -- will speak on human rights in Iran and beyond Monday, May 23, at Northwestern University.

Ebadi’s lecture, which will cost $20 per ticket for the general public and is free for an individual with a valid university ID, will take place at 6 p.m. in the Owen L. Coon Forum of Leverone Hall, 2001 Sheridan Road, on the University’s Evanston campus. Tickets will be available on a first come, first served basis at the site of the event.

The first Muslim woman ever to win the Nobel Prize for Peace, Ebadi became one of Iran’s first female judges in 1969 but was forced off the bench after the Islamic Revolution. Essentially housebound until 1992 when she went into private legal practice, Ebadi used her unemployment to author several important books and articles on human rights in Iran.

The 2003 Nobel Prize winner has spent three decades advancing human rights in Iran and attempting to bring together the nation’s hard-liners and reformists. On learning she won the Nobel Peace Prize, Ebadi called for the immediate release of political prisoners in Iran and cautioned against U.S. intervention in Iran’s domestic affairs.

As a lawyer, she has handled cases of national importance, including the defense of families of serial murder victims, victims of child abuse and political prisoners. The Nobel Committee praised Ebadi as a professional who “never heeded the threats to her own safety.”

Ebadi’s lecture, titled “Human Rights and Democracy in Iran and Beyond,” is part of a series on “Women and Islam” presented by Northwestern’s Center for International and Comparative Studies. For further information, call (847) 467-2770.