Shadi Sadr

Shadi Sadr is an Iranian lawyer, human rights defender and journalist who has risked her life in her efforts to protect the human rights of women activists and journalists. She has been arrested, beaten and imprisoned in Iran. In July 2009 she was arrested once again and then released, which allowed her to escape to Europe. On May 17, 2010, Ms. Sadr was convicted in absentia in a Tehran court of “acting against national security and harming public order” and was sentenced to six years in prison with 74 lashes. Shadi Sadr is the founder and director of Raahi, a legal centre for women. Raahi was closed down by the Iranian authorities in 2007 in a wave of repression against civil society. Ms. Sadr has touched the lives of hundreds of individuals through her work and her support for campaigns such as the Iran's Stop Stoning Forever Campaign as well as the Global Campaign to End Stoning initiated by Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML). She has received several awards such as Ida B Wells award for bravery in journalism, Alexander Prize of Law School of Santa Clara University and Women of Courage Award of the State Department. In July 2010 Shadi Sadr established a new project Justice for Iran which is hosted by WLUML, promotes and defends women's rights in the increasingly discriminatory and fundamentalist environment in Iran and addresses the issue of impunity for sexual violence against women by the Iranian regime. Justice for Iran raises public awareness and demands accountability for women's rights violations committed by the Iranian government via political pressure and international accountability mechanisms.