Despite the pressure exerted by the United States and other Western countries, former Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and the current Brazilian officials have so far supported Iran’s peaceful nuclear program based on the principles of justice and independence.

Just last year, Brazil, under the leadership of Lula, made efforts to try to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program peacefully, which resulted in the Tehran Declaration, but unfortunately the Western powers, which could not bear to see Iran making achievements and feared that the Tehran Declaration would elevate the stature of Lula in the international arena, started to make excuses and pushed through UN sanctions to undermine those efforts.
In this context, Shirin Ebadi, a so-called human rights activist, is trying to weaken the powerful stance adopted by Brazil toward Iran’s nuclear program. Perhaps the mission assigned to her by her Western overlords is to put pressure on Iran over its nuclear program in the form of allegations about human rights violations.
Ostensibly, Ms. Ebadi is traveling to Brazil to raise the human rights issue, but she will most likely try to take advantage of President Dilma Rousseff’s newly adopted stances on human rights. Using her fame as a Nobel laureate and in line with her special mission, she will try to convince Brazilian officials to distance themselves from Iran.
As we know, the U.S. and some other Western countries are concerned about the recent expansion of relations between Brazil and Iran, particularly in relation to Iran’s nuclear program, and they are using political pressure and other methods to convince Brazil to alter its policies toward Iran. Shirin Ebadi is conducting the same type of mission, albeit on a smaller scale.
Unfortunately, a person who has won the respected Nobel Peace Prize is being manipulated by powerful countries to undermine the close relations between the two great nations of Iran and Brazil. She is so loyal to her mission that she calls Lula a traitor, even though the man is extremely popular and respected by the people of Brazil and many other nations and his policies made Brazil an advanced country.
Thus, Shirin Ebadi plans to travel to Brazil to give interviews and hold meetings to criticize the human rights situation in Iran in order to damage the strong relations between the two countries.
But now that the main purpose and intent of this trip to Brazil is clear, some of her statements and claims about the human rights situation in Iran should be clarified.
(1) The Nobel Peace Prize is an international honor, so why should Ms. Ebadi only defend the Iranian people’s rights and not the rights of the people of the entire world? Why have all her activities just been focused on Iran? Are human rights only violated in Iran? Were the people of Gaza, who were attacked by Israeli forces with white phosphorus bombs, not human? What about the Palestinian children whose organs were trafficked by the Israelis? Were they not human? And the innocent people of Afghanistan and Iraq suffering under the oppression of occupation by troops from the U.S. and other Western countries, are they not human? Can Pakistani women and children, who were attending wedding ceremonies attacked by U.S. drones in their own villages, not claim to be victims of terrorism and human rights violations? What about the mentally challenged U.S. citizen, Ms. Theresa Lewis, who, despite much opposition, was recently found guilty of involvement in the murder of her husband and executed?
The question is whether Ms. Ebadi has any responsibility for defending the rights of these people or not. It seems that in the world depicted by Ms. Ebadi, only the rights of a number of homosexuals, whom Ebadi empathizes with and feels responsible for, are violated. And what about the innocent prisoners who are brutally tortured at Guantanamo, most of whom were detained based on false accusations, are they not human? And then we have the violation of people’s rights in Latin America, Africa, and particularly Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza, and other parts of Palestine in the past and the present. Are these not examples of human rights violations?
(2) Another question concerns the latest developments in the Middle East and Ms. Ebadi’s noted absence in Tunisia and Egypt. Why does Ebadi not have any plans to travel to Egypt, where hundreds of innocent people have been killed only because they called for freedom, independence, and democracy in their own country?
(3) Why should an independent and popular figure like Lula, who has made serious efforts to increase the development and prosperity of his country and other countries in the Global South, be attacked by a biased person like Shirin Ebadi and called a traitor? Of course, the answer is very clear. Because an independent political figure like Lula will not sacrifice the destiny and interests of his country and its people!
In light of the abovementioned points, Brazilian officials must be alert and should not allow an opportunist like Shirin Ebadi to exploit the situation for the benefit of the Western powers. Clearly, by resorting to false pretexts, such as the human rights issue and the status of women in Iran, and by attempting to play on the emotions of President Rousseff, Ebadi will try to damage relations between the two countries.
And finally, we would like to make a request to the real defenders of human rights, especially journalists and other colleagues in the media. Ms. Ebadi now resides in Europe and has only visited Western countries. She has never traveled to embattled countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan and has never visited any African country. If she visits Brazil, would you please ask her about the abovementioned points? Of course, we hope that she can give proper responses. We also hope that Brazilian officials stand firm on their logical and principled stance and do not allow people like Ebadi to use the human rights issue as a tool to hammer other countries. The use of double standards in addressing human rights violations and attacks on national heroes should not be allowed in any form.