OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Two days before President Bush will deliver a speech announcing a new course in Iraq which will exclude the Iraq Study group’s recommendation to engage Iran, women Nobel Peace Prize Winners Dr. Shirin Ebadi and Professor Jody Williams will be in Washington, D.C. to call for constructive US-Iran dialogue and engagement.

During a press conference on Monday, January 8, 2007, Dr. Ebadi and Prof. Williams will offer their views on what can be done to improve relations between the U.S. and Iran. Their onging calls for non-violent solutions to the stalemate are particularly relevant given the recent revelations in the media that the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group (ISOG) is intensifying its secretive planning on Iran.

Even in the face of Iranian government discrimination, 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate and Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi underscores the dangers of international punishment or military interference in Iran. According to Dr. Ebadi, “It's the people of Iran that have to gain their own freedom and human rights improvements. Military action or other punishments against Iran will make the situation for political reformists and human rights advocates in Iran a lot more difficult. I don't think that Iranian human rights advocates need help of that sort from the governments of the West. But I expect people in the West to support freedom-seekers in Iran.”

“What we are calling for is quite simple: a nonviolent resolution of the standoff between the U.S. and Iran,” says Jody Williams. “We do not want to see another Iraq and more disruption in the volatile and fragile Middle East. We do not want to see more suffering among women and children in another Middle Eastern country. No more military action. We demand a negotiated resolution of the standoff.”

Dr. Shirin Ebadi, J.D., was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize for Peace. She received this award for her tireless efforts to promote human rights, in particular, the rights of women, children, and political prisoners in Iran. She is the first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and only the fifth Muslim to receive a Nobel Prize in any field. Dr. Ebadi was one of the first female judges in Iran. She served as president of the city court of Tehran from 1975 to 1979 and was the first Iranian woman to achieve Chief Justice status. She, along with other women judges, was dismissed from that position after the Islamic Revolution in February 1979. She was made a clerk in the court she had once presided over, until she petitioned for early retirement. After obtaining her lawyer’s license in 1992, Dr. Ebadi set up private practice. As a lawyer, Dr. Ebadi has taken on many controversial cases defending political dissidents and as a result has been arrested numerous times. She has published over 70 articles and 12 books dedicated to various aspects of human rights. Dr. Ebadi’s latest book, Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope, was published by Random House in May 2006.

Professor Jody Williams became the tenth woman to receive the Nobel Price for Peace in its almost 100-year history when she was recognized with the Prize in 1997, along with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), for her role as the founding coordinator of the ICBL. The ICBL's work resulted in an international treaty which for the first time in history banned a conventional weapon in widespread use for almost 100 years. Since February 1998, she has served as a Campaign Ambassador for the ICBL, speaking globally on its behalf. Professor Williams also speaks and writes extensively on human rights and human security. Prior to beginning the ICBL during the 1980s, she worked for eleven years to try to stop US military involvement in Central America. Currently, she is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Social Work and Global Justice, in the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston.

The Nobel Women's Initiative was established in 2006 by sister Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire. For more information, please visit: www.nobelwomensinitiative.org.