cases involving dissidents who were in trouble with the government, and helped get a
more liberal president elected in Iran.
But women and children were still second-class citizens, and anyone who spoke out
against the government could still find themselves in deep trouble. In 2000, there was a
series of murders of intellectuals in Iran; Ebadi and others suspected the killers were
government thugs. They were right, but it took a long, hard struggle to prove their case,
and Ebadi wound up in jail for daring to ask questions.
The more that Shirin Ebadi stood up for her beliefs, the more death threats and
harassment she suffered. Finally, she was forced to flee Iran and now lives in exile in
Canada. However, she has not stopped speaking out and campaigning for reforms in Iran
and other countries where children and women are not treated as equals to men.
Her courageous fight for justice has won her admirers and enemies around the world, as
well as the Nobel Prize for Peace.
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