Iran Rally: Nobel Prize Laureate Addresses E.U.

Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi stirred up an emotional crowd of Iranians in front of the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.

Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and founder of the Center for the Defense of Human Rights in Iran.

Ebadi addressed about 200 demonstrators just before meeting with members of parliament. She called for the European Union to send a special representative to Tehran.

[Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Laureate]:
„Brother Basiji, why are you a killing brother?“

And the crowd mostly responded with cheers and with tears.

Witnesses say members of the religious Basiji militia have dragged demonstrators out of houses into which they’d fled after clashes with police.

Ebadi went on to say she was speaking with the voice of Neda Agha Soltan, the Iranian woman killed in clashes in Tehran whose become a symbol for the entire protest movement.

Graphic footage of her death has been seen around the world in broadcast news, and on the Internet.

[Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Laureate]:
„I asked the U.N. Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon to send a special envoy to Iran and today I have put the same request to the European Parliament.“

Ebadi met earlier at a news conference with European Parliament Head Hans Geert Poettering.

Poettering says he is ready head a delegation to Iran, though this would be subject to diplomatic procedures and the Iranian authorities acceptance of such a request.

Sweden says the bloc’s 27 member states should consider drafting a plan to take in and provide aid to demonstrators at their embassies in Iran.

Italy, meanwhile, says it’s prepared to open its embassy to any wounded protesters.

[Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Laureate]:
“If the government continues to arrest people who have been injured from their hospital bed, then yes, the foreign embassies should open the door to the injured so they don’t arrest them.“

Iranian authorities have accused Western powers of supporting the protests, and have not ruled out expelling some European ambassadors. The situation remains tense.

(NTDTV)