"She Is Very Brave"

By Scott Macleod/Tehran

When Shirin Ebadi was in prison in Tehran a few years ago for accusing officials of plotting attacks on reformers, her husband petitioned a court to visit her behind bars. "You are a free man now!" was the male-chauvinistic wisecrack of an Islamic judge. "Why don't you take advantage of your freedom?"

Any public official would think twice today about poking fun at Ebadi, whose struggle for human rights in Iran has earned her the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. In naming Ebadi last week, Norway's Nobel Committee handed a platform to a formidable Iranian voice of conscience, breathed life into the country's dying reform movement and put the Islamic regime on notice. Ebadi has never believed that Islam and reform are doomed to be at odds. "There is absolutely nothing incompatible or contradictory about Islam, democracy and political freedom," she told TIME in Paris, where she learned of the award. "There is much to be gained by demonstrating that freedom and democracy can be fought for and attained in a country of devout Muslims."

Notwithstanding such olive branches, Ebadi's unflinching advocacy has earned her the wrath of hard-liners, including death threats from vigilantes. Ebadi, 56, is a longtime defender of the rights of children and women, who in recent years has taken up the cause of persecuted activists. She was one of the 134 signatories of the 1994 Declaration of Iranian Writers, an early turning point in the pro-democracy struggle. "Her character is that of a fighter," says Shahla Lahiji, a prominent Iranian publisher and close friend for 20 years. Ebadi's mother Mino, 79, has long been proud of her daughter. "I cried all day," she told TIME as she served tea and cookies to family members at Ebadi's apartment. "We always encouraged our children to be active in society. I always wanted to become just like Shirin became."

Ebadi is the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to be awarded the Peace Prize. The news was greeted with jeers, cheers and some conspicuous silence in Iran. After ignoring the story all day, Iran's state television made the prize the final item on its evening news program, following the sports report and a story about an emergency aircraft landing in New Zealand. Mohsen Kadivar, a prominent dissident cleric, once imprisoned for his pro-democracy statements, told TIME that the prize was "an honor for Iran, for Iranian women and for reformists." But conservatives mocked the award as another Western way of pressuring the Islamic regime, though Ebadi is careful to distance herself from some of the Bush Administration's more notorious comments on her country. "The American government includes Iran in the 'axis of evil' and is so busy demanding that Iran embrace democracy that it shouts over the heads of millions of Iranians who demand democracy and freedom--often at great peril," she told TIME. "Every nation needs to select what's best for itself on its own--whether that's Iran, Iraq or in Europe." Ebadi said that her respect for the Pope--heavily favored to win the award this year--"only increased when he came out in opposition to the war in Iraq."

Ebadi's career began after she attended Tehran University law school, when she became one of Iran's first female judges. She supported the 1979 Iranian revolution, but she was removed from her post by the new government. She eventually established a nongovernmental organization for child welfare and authored a seminal book on children's rights. Ebadi found herself taking on high-profile political cases that other lawyers were too timid to handle. In 2000 she helped document allegations that conservative clerics and politicians were behind vigilante attacks on reformers. The revelations embarrassed prosecutors, and Ebadi was jailed for 23 days on defamation charges. "She was worried, but she didn't let that stop her," her husband Javad Tavassolian, 60, told TIME. "She is very brave."

Though her friends consider her still in danger from vigilante death squads, Ebadi continues to defend those facing imprisonment for their pro-democracy activities. But Iran's reform movement has been brutally suppressed in recent years, and it seems doubtful that the regime will soon change its ways. If it fails to do so, it will hear more from Ebadi, whose reputation in the outside world has been enhanced by last week's storied award. --With reporting by Bruce Crumley/Paris

With reporting by Bruce Crumley/Paris