In her first interview since the start of this year's uprising in Iran, lawyer Shirin Ebadi talks to FRANCE 24 about the Iranian people's desire for democracy. Ebadi was Iran's first female judge before losing her right to practice in 1979 amid the creation of the Islamic Republic. She has dedicated her life to defending the most vulnerable in Iran, and tried to demonstrate the contradictions of the Islamic laws. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 2003, she was forced to flee Iran in 2009.
Ebadi believes that a revolution is currently under way in Iran, and the regime cannot last much longer given the Iranian people's desire for democracy. Ebadi talks about the 14,000 arrests since the protests began three months ago following the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Tehran's morality police. Ebadi says the “violence has taken unprecedented proportions” and it is now impossible to go back. She believes that the current movement is "the beginning of the end for the Iranian regime".
