Human Rights Defenders Tulip 2009 awarded to the Iranian Shadi Sadr
9 November 2009. The Human Rights Defenders Tulip award for 2009 was presented to the Iranian human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr at the Knight’s Hall in The Hague. She received the human rights award from the Dutch government for the moral courage and perseverance she has shown in protecting and promoting the rights of her fellow citizens in Iran.
In his speech at the awards ceremony, Minister Verhagen (Foreign Affairs) called her ‘an ordinary woman who has performed great deeds’ and in doing so, changed the views of the world. “The courage she has shown and continues to show, the struggle that she entered into and the work that she does make her extraordinary.”
Shadi Sadr has committed herself – as a lawyer, journalist and researcher – to women’s rights in Iran. In 2004, she set up Raahi, an organisation that conducts research on how to improve women’s rights. Raahi defends women who find themselves in very difficult positions – at no cost – mainly in the field of family law. Sadr is also a great advocate of the movement against stoning in Iran. She is the co-founder of the ‘Stop Stoning Forever’ campaign.
In her acceptance speech, Sadr recalled that women – and especially girls – were at the forefront of the recent demonstrations against the Iranian leaders. She urged international governments not to forget those protestors, to continue advocating human rights in Tehran and to bring those responsible for human rights violations to justice.
Sadr’s peaceful efforts on behalf of others have had a lot of negative consequences for her personally. She is continually spied on and threatened. In 2005, she was banned from travelling for one year. In March 2007, she was arrested and put in jail. During the riots that followed the presidential elections on 12th June, she was violently arrested once again and spent eleven days in jail.
The Chairman of the jury that nominates the candidate laureates for the Human Rights Defenders Tulip award, Cisca Dresselhuys, emphasised the fact that the Netherlands – as requested by people such as Sadr – does not look the other way and wishes to honour, encourage and support those who participate in the struggle for human rights.
The award consists of a bronze statuette of the Human Rights Defenders Tulip and individual prize money of €10,000. Furthermore, Sadr can propose a project to receive a grant of €100,000 in order to intensify her efforts, and she is now in a position to expand her network both in the Netherlands and Europe.
