Profile: Shirin Ebadi

Shirin Ebadi, a 56-year-old lawyer and human rights activist has become Iran's first Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Her outspoken campaigns for democracy and greater rights for Iranian women and children have often brought her into conflict with conservative clerics.

Ebadi: Third Muslim, 11th woman to win peace prize

Married with two grown-up daughters, she is credited with being a driving force behind the reform of family laws in Iran by seeking changes in divorce and inheritance legislation.

But she has also come into conflict with the law in Iran on a personal level, and been held in jail.

Beneath her self effacing, softly-spoken exterior lies a determined and passionate campaigner, says BBC regional analyst Pam O'Toole

Her refusal to be silenced and her willingness to take on politically sensitive legal cases have won the admiration of human rights groups across the world, our analyst says.

"She is a popular figure in Iran and also she's a key figure in reformist movement and like many other key figures in the movement she's been harassed by the conservative forces who control the judiciary, " according to Ziba Mir Hosseini of the School of Oriental Studies in London, a friend of the lawyer.

Politically sensitive

A graduate of Tehran University, Shirin Ebadi was the first female judge in her country, serving as president of the Tehran city court, from 1975.

With the advent of the Islamic republic in 1979, however, she was forced to resign when it was decided that women were not suitable for such posts.

Any person who pursues human rights in Iran must live with fear from birth to death, but I have learned to overcome my fear Shirin Ebadi 1999 interview

But Shirin Ebadi went on to establish a law practice, taking on the kind of politically sensitive cases many Iranian lawyers would not dream of touching.

Two of her clients, liberal intellectuals Daryoush and Parvaneh Forouhar, were stabbed to death in a series of killings in 1998 which turned out to be the work of "rogue elements" in the Intelligence Ministry.

She also defended women's rights activists in the courts.

The lawyer found herself in the dock in 2000, accused of distributing the video-taped confession of a hardline hooligan who claimed that prominent conservative leaders were instigating physical attacks on pro-reform gatherings and figures.

That won her a suspended jail sentence and a professional ban.

She was also briefly detained after attending a conference in Berlin three years ago on Iran's reforms.

Shirin Ebadi has written books calling for greater legal protection for Iranian children and disclosing alleged human rights violations by the Iranian authorities, and she also lectures at Tehran University.

Inspiration

Her Nobel Peace Prize comes two years after the award of a human rights prize in Norway.

In its statement, the Nobel award committee said it chose her because of her focus on promoting human rights and democracy in her country.

"As a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, she has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, and far beyond."

The Nobel committee also paid tribute to her courage, noting that she had "never heeded the threat to her own safety".

Iran's reformists must be delighted with the announcement, but official reactions have been low-key - perhaps because the official state-controlled media is dominated by the conservatives.

In a BBC interview conducted in Paris, where she was on a visit when the award was announced, Shirin Ebadi said she was not worried about returning home as she had worked in Iran for years.

She said she thought her award would give people who work for human rights in Iran more courage because they would understand that their cause was right.