Iran's Nobel winner shrugs off warnings, says fight for Democracy goes on

TEHRAN (AFP) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi shrugged off Iranian government warnings and criticism from hardliners, vowing her struggle for democracy and human rights would continue.

"I will not change the way in which I work. The awarding of the prize showed that this method is a good one," the 56-year-old jurist said Wednesday in her debut appearance before domestic media since becoming the first Muslim woman Nobel laureate.

Although Ebadi said she had no desire to enter politics -- some fans have even tipped her as a future political leader -- she did tell authorities "to respect its international engagements regarding human rights".

Ebadi also said she would continue to stand behind dissidents, another reason behind the hostility shown towards her by members of Iran's powerful religious right.

"The defence of those facing political accusations has always been a priority, and this will continue," the petite and softly spoken jurist told reporters. She also repeated her "hope" for all political prisoners to be freed.

Ebadi, who was given the prize last Friday for her efforts to promote democracy and human rights, was welcomed by thousands of fans as she returned late Tuesday to Iran from France -- where she had been making a short trip when the prize was announced.

Some 10,000 people, a majority of them women, descended on Tehran's Mehrabad airport for her homecoming, with bumper-to-bumper traffic bringing an area around the airport to a standstill.

Many in the crowd shouted political slogans, echoing Ebadi's calls for political prisoners to be set free, and chants directed against embattled reformist President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites).

Earlier Tuesday, Khatami broke four days of silence over her prize win, warning her to "pay attention" and pouring cold water on her achievement.

"Obviously I am pleased that a compatriot has achieved such success," Khatami said, before he added: "The Nobel Peace Prize is not very important, the ones that count are the scientific and literary prizes.

"I hope that Mrs Ebadi, who comes from a religious family and has expressed her love for Islam, will pay attention to the interests of the Islamic world and of Iran, and not allow anyone to exploit her success."

Echoing comments already heard from Iranian hardliners, he added there were "political criteria" behind the Nobel committee's decision.

In contrast, the president's brother and reformist party leader Mohammad Reza Khatami told parliament that "the Nobel Peace Prize is one of the most honorary and most influential prizes, and we are grateful to the Nobel committee for awarding this prize to an Iranian citizen."

Since she was awarded the prize, Ebadi has criticised the slow pace of reforms under Khatami -- who has been increasingly silent on key problems facing the Islamic republic and the blocking of his reforms by powerful conservatives in the judiciary and legislative vetting bodies.

But there were signs Wednesday that the president's allies were trying to undo the damage of his comments, made despite his two landslide election victories on tickets of greater democracy, human rights and reform.

Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi accused the media of "distorting" Khatami's comments, while no less than three vice presidents were sent to greet Ebadi at the airport as she stepped off an Iran Air Boeing 747.

The headline in the reformist Tosseh newspaper cried: "Nobel Prize of Shirin (which means "sweet" in Farsi) Turns Sour" -- blaming the foreign press, even though Khatami's comments were also reported by other Iranian media -- and seized upon, somewhat ironically, by the hardline press.

And Iran's conservative-run judiciary, the main target of Ebadi's human rights campaigns, also poured scorn on her win by charging the prize "does not have much credibility".

"I think she won the prize for politically motivated reasons," Mohammad Javad Larijani, a deputy head of the judiciary and influential conservative, was quoted as saying by several Iranian newspapers.

Iranian women chant slogans as Iranian human rights activist, feminist lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi speaks upon her arrival at Tehran's Mehr-Abad airport 14 October 2003. Ebadi was given a hero's welcome from thousands of fans as she returned to Iran late tonight, with the human rights activist shrugging off government warnings and immediately calling for the freeing of political prisoners.

Mobbed by a happy crowd of several thousand, Iranian winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Shirin Ebadi, centre left with red scarf, is shielded by her brother Jafar, left, as Iranian reformist lawmaker Fatemeh Haghighat-jou, in foreground right, at the airport in Tehran on Tuesday Oct. 14, 2003. Ebadi, a human rights and democracy activist was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. Others unidentified.(AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

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