Oslo, Norway — Shirin Ebadi has been here in Oslo before: for example, when she picked up her Nobel peace prize in 2003. She is back this year, participating in the Oslo Freedom Forum, the annual human-rights conference organized by Thor Halvorssen, a Norwegian-Venezuelan dynamo. He gathers people from all corners of the earth — especially the darkest corners — to talk about freedom and how to advance it.
Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer — indeed, she was a judge. Apparently, she was the first woman in Iranian history to serve as a judge. That is an amazing distinction. But her judgeship came to an end in 1979, when Khomeini and his gang seized power. In their opinion, Islam forbade women to serve as judges. For one thing, they were too emotional. So, Ebadi became a defense lawyer, a human-rights lawyer. She was particularly devoted to helping women and children.
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