Betrayal has Many Faces and Forms

Persian spawn, Western formed: Who is Shirin Ebadi?

She is the daughter of a law professor, an elite woman with a law degree, a profession practicing law, a husband and children, a “country house” and city apartment in her homeland. 

She accepts a highly questionable and politicized prize, and later deserts her country for Western ports in the United States and the United Kingdom—countries whose leaders have for generations tormented her homeland and its people; countries whose deciders and executioners have assassinated Iran’s leaders, propped up an Iranian dynastic dictator (dynasty founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi; last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), manufactured and propagated twisted pretexts, and executed relentless, egregious, multi-faceted attacks on the Iranian people.

Her profile reads

• Iranian political activist and Lawyer
• In Iran a former judge, human rights activist, Defenders of Human Rights Center founder.

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hirin Ebadi is, therefore, a learned woman. No victim! Facts of history are surely not lost on her. Yet she accused her compatriots, including her husband, of betrayal.  

In 2016, Shirin Ebadi took to the New York Times—the rag that brought the world nonexistent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction as pretext for slaughtering, maiming, and disabling In Utero millions of Iraq’s people; its art objects, historical relics, and cultural traditions. In her opinion piece, Ebadi wrote (as was published)

“In August 2009, I was betrayed by both my husband and my country.”

Beware the one-sidedness of “me” accounts, or “memoir.” This is what one can infer from her narrative.

After Ebadi left her husband and homeland, her husband apparently had a new fling with an old flame and was caught on camera by “agents.” His paramour had reportedly prefaced their fling with reminders that his wife had long gone.

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amera-carrying agents, their partners, and superiors apparently arrested Ebadi’s husband, according to interpreted texts of her religion; threw him in prison; and threatened him with death if he didn’t read a prepared statement against his Western prizing-winning bride. Thus:

“‘Shirin Ebadi did not deserve to receive the Nobel Prize. She was awarded the prize so that she could help topple the Islamic Republic. She is a supporter of the West, particularly America. Her work is not in the service of Iranians, but serves the interests of foreign imperialists who seek to weaken Iran.’”

Ebadi’s husband followed orders, escaped death, and lived another day in his homeland.  Shirin Ebadi got to travel the world, adopt and reside in any country she chooses, and pontificate on this and that—as freely as she chooses, or as demanded by her prize givers.

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he Malleable may betray kin, country, or contract

Shirin Ebadi was covered in news stories in 2007.

Canadian residents “Shahir Shahidsaless and his wife Faranak Shakoori filed a lawsuit against Ebadi in US District Court in Manhattan. The Toronto man reportedly said “Ebadi suggested they both write a book in response to Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations, which argues Islamic and Western societies are incompatible.”

When asked about the suit, Ebadi reportedly write in an email that “her literary agent and Random House recommended she not publish the second book because it would damage sales of her future books.”

In the Wikipedia profile of Ebadi is this:

According to the Associated Press, on August 27, 2007, Ebadi was sued by a Canadian author and political analyst, Shahir Shahidsaless—who writes and publishes in Persian. The plaintiffs allege that Ebade “reneged on getting a publisher for a book she had requested him to write under her supervision, titled A Useful Enemy.

The initial suit was dismissed not on the grounds of substance, as the case was never tried; but because the court lacked “jurisdiction.” The case is said to be pending. The latest update of the Wikipedia file was May 24, 2020.

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n 2004, while presumably still an Iranian compatriot (not yet an expatriate), Forbes magazine listed Ebadi among their “100 most powerful women in the world” and among their “100 most influential women of all time.”

Also that year, Ebadi sued the US Department of the Treasury “because of restrictions” regarding the United States release of her memoir. After Ebadi won the case in court, Random House, in 2006, released to Western audiences Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope by Shirin Ebadi with Azadeh Moaveni, edited by US novelist David Ebershoff. BBC 4 then serialized a reading of the book.

In June 2009, Shirin Ebadi reportedly established her exile headquarters in the United Kingdom. Five months later, her country of origin froze her bank accounts. Thereafter, Ebadi was as free as the breeze—to travel the world and lecture the world; write books, with or without other writers and editors’ help; and be assured that her books will be published by major publishing houses. 

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etrayal has many faces and forms. Often betrayal is betrayal of oneself.  

Sources

Ebadi, Shirin “Tricked Into Cheating and Sentenced to Death” opinion March 3, 2016 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/opinion/sunday/tricked-into-cheating-and-sentenced-to-death.html

CBC “Toronto couple sue Iranian Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi over book deal” August 24, 2007 https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/toronto-couple-sue-iranian-nobel-prize-winner-shirin-ebadi-over-book-deal-1.672144

Shirin Ebadi Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirin_Ebadi

CNN “Shirin Ebadi Fast Facts” CNN Editorial Research June 11, 2020 (timeline’s latest update)

https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/01/world/meast/shirin-ebadi---fast-facts/index.html

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