Prince Reza Pahlavi called on Donald Trump to support the Iranian people - something the American president himself promised to do. You are among the initiators of a letter with the same content to Trump. What exactly do you expect from him?
Shirin Ebadi: Trump told the Iranian people: "Keep fighting, help is on the way". I don't know what help he is talking about. What we want are measures that prevent the killings, the massacre of the people of Iran. I will mention two specific examples of what the United States can do.
First, they can disrupt the communications of the state radio and television broadcaster. By using jamming technology, they can interfere with the regime's television and radio towers. Just as the regime has cut off people’s access to information, so too should the communication channels between the regime, its security forces, and the public be cut off. This would help stop the spread of propaganda.
"Preventing the massacre does not require war"
Another option is the possibility of targeted actions against Iran’s supreme leader and the high command of the Revolutionary Guard. We have seen similar operations in Iran before. Ismail Haniyeh (the leader of Hamas), for example, was killed right in Iran. There were no civilians injured, the attack was carried out in a single room, no one else was killed. This type of targeted action could be taken against the supreme leader and senior officials.
Preventing the massacre of the Iranian people does not require a full-scale war, it does not require killing more people. We do not want war, but steps to stop the killing of people.
Aren't you worried that a targeted strike could worsen the situation, provoke retaliation from Iran, and drag the entire region into a larger war?
Shirin Ebadi: What is happening in Iran right now is already a disproportionate war. When at least 12,000 people have been killed in less than two days, how can we call this - peace and tranquility? This is nothing but war. In fact, if missiles had been fired, perhaps fewer people would have been killed in the same period of time.
We should note that this figure has not been confirmed by independent sources, but there is no doubt that the number of victims is very high. Another issue often raised by non-Iranian audiences and some international media outlets is this: In the videos of the protests, there seem to be fewer women compared to the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement, and the slogans seem to be less focused on civil rights and women's rights. In your opinion, what is the difference between this uprising and the "Mahsa" movement?
A new level of brutality and violence
Shirin Ebadi: Women can be seen in the footage of the protests. If you compare the two movements, you will see that the "Mahsa" movement started with women, but many men also joined it. Even most of the arrested and executed participants in this movement were men. From that perspective, I don't see a fundamental difference.
What is different now is the level of brutality and violence used by the government. In previous protests under the slogan "Women, Life, Freedom" the regime did not escalate the violence to such an extent, nor did it resort to such severe repression. Today, the security forces are using army weapons. They are killing civilians.
What is happening in Iran is actually a full-scale war. The people are completely defenseless - at most they can get hold of batons or light fires to reduce the effect of the tear gas. They are faced with forces armed with automatic weapons. They are killing people with machine guns.
Author: Mitra Shojai