Until We Are Free
My Fight for Human Rights in Iran
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4.7 • 9 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
In this searing memoir, the first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize tells her story of courage and defiance in the face of an Iranian government out to destroy her, her family, and her mission: to bring justice to the people and the country she loves.
“Shirin Ebadi is quite simply the most vital voice for freedom and human rights in Iran.”—Reza Aslan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of No god but God and Zealot
For years the Islamic Republic tried to intimidate Shirin Ebadi, but after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rose to power in 2005, the persecution intensified. The government wiretapped Ebadi’s phones, bugged her law firm, sent spies to follow her, harassed her colleagues, detained her daughter, and arrested her sister on trumped-up charges. It shut down her lectures, fired up mobs to attack her home, and nailed a death threat to her front door. But nothing could keep Ebadi from speaking out and standing up for human dignity.
This is the amazing, at times harrowing, simply astonishing story of a woman who would never give up. Just as her words and deeds have inspired a nation, Until We Are Free will inspire you to find the courage to stand up for your beliefs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The story of Iran is the story of my life," writes human rights activist and Nobel laureate Ebadi (Iran Awakening) at the start of her memoir, which paints a revealing portrait of the state of political oppression in Iran. It begins with the 1979 revolution, when the author, under Ayatollah Khomeini's regime, lost her judgeship simply for being a woman. She uses spare, spirited prose to chronicle the start of her career as a pro bono defender of human rights, working with the most vulnerable women, children, and dissidents as the government subjected her to an increasing amount of harassment and scrutiny. She was exiled in 2009 on the eve of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second term. The Iranian government has since redirected their intimidation schemes toward her family in Iran, coercing her husband and arresting her sister. Yet she continues to fight for Iranians' human rights, finding refuge in London, where she currently lives. Ebadi's tone is distinctly more sorrowful toward the end of the book, where she recounts her years away from Iran. She reflects on the Arab Spring and the many ways the Iranian state hides the costs of its policies from its citizens; despite this corruption, she feels homesick and dislocated in exile. She is an inspiring figure, and her suspenseful, evocative story is unforgettable.
