About 3,000 Iranians, chanting "Free political prisoners" and "Liberty and justice are the slogans of our nation," welcomed home Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi on Tuesday.
The human rights lawyer's Nobel prize has ignited strong passions in her home country, reflecting deep political divisions between reformers and hardliners over the future of the Islamic Republic.
PHOTO: AFP
In a carnival-like atmosphere at Tehran's Mehrabad airport, welcomers clapped, linked arms and sang popular anthems dating from before the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Many ordinary Iranians hope Ebadi's award will be a shot in the arm for the country's beleaguered reformist movement.
"Freedom is sweet, independence is sweet and Ebadi is sweet," they chanted in a play on words with Ebadi's first name, Shirin, which means "sweet" in Farsi.
Dressed in a black coat and red headscarf, Ebadi, 56, appeared overwhelmed by the warmth of the reception after flying in from Paris where she had been attending a conference when informed of her Nobel win on Friday.
"This award means that the Iranian nation's desires for human rights and democracy and peace have been heard by the world," Ebadi told the crowd, brushing tears from her face.
"This award doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the great Iranian nation," she said as she was showered with flowers.
Iran's first female judge before the Islamic revolution, Ebadi was commended by the Nobel Committee for her work promoting women's and children's rights.
But in Iran she is best known for taking on tough political cases which other lawyers dared not touch.
Hardliners argue the country's first Nobel Peace Prize was a political move sponsored by its enemies and lambasted Ebadi for attending a Paris news conference last week without a headscarf.
Ebadi was met on the airport tarmac by members of her family, parliamentarians and representatives of President Mohammad Khatami's reformist government.
"I feel like a child who has returned to her mother, a drop of water which has returned to the ocean," Ebadi told reporters.
Outside the airport, well-wishers -- many clutching long-stemmed white flowers -- punched the air as they chanted daring political slogans. Security at the airport was not noticeably tighter than usual and there were no arrests.
Confetti and balloons were tossed into the air. Some young couples held hands in flagrant defiance of strict laws which prohibit physical contact in public between the sexes.
A group of around a dozen Islamic hardliners looked on disapprovingly. They carried a banner which read: "Death to hypocritical scribblers."
Bemused travellers arriving on flights from Europe struggled to push their luggage trolleys through the mass of people.
"It's so emotional and unbelievable. Everyone here came to support her and her causes," said Zahra, 23, who like many women present sported a white headscarf as a symbol of peace.
Earlier on Tuesday Khatami said he was pleased an Iranian had won the Nobel prize but, in an apparent effort to deflect hardline ire, he played down the importance of the award.
"The Nobel Peace Prize is not that important, the awards for literature and science are more important," he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
Elected in landslide wins in 1997 and 2001, Khatami's popularity has plummeted in recent months due to mounting frustration at his failure to overcome resistance to change from powerful hardliners.
"Khatami, Khatami, shame on you!" chanted sections of the crowd at the airport.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in