Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her work on behalf of human rights, women’s rights, and children’s rights in Iran.  She is a critic of the current Iranian government, and lives in exile.  In a message written for RootsAction, Ebadi opposes any attack on Iran:

“Not only military attack but even threat of military attack would slow down the progress of democracy in Iran because the government, under the pretext of safeguarding national security, would further intensify its crackdown on pro-democracy activists and critics. Moreover, such an eventuality would incite people’s nationalist sentiment, which would cause them to forget their criticisms of the government.

“I also oppose economic sanctions against Iran because they would increase poverty and deteriorate the economic situation of the people. I favor sanctions that do not harm the people. For instance, the E.U. and U.S. have imposed sanctions on a number of human rights violators in Iran. It has been declared that they cannot enter Europe and the U.S., and their assets would be frozen should they have any on the aforementioned territories.

“That list should be expanded. Moreover, companies that have sold equipment and software intended for use by the Iranian authorities in the monitoring or interception of internet and telephone communications should be penalized.  These kinds of sanctions will weaken the Iranian government without being harmful to the people. We should try to adopt more targeted sanctions to punish the government for its violation of human rights.” –Shirin Ebadi

A decade ago, government lies and media spin brought the disaster of the Iraq war. Don’t let the same thing happen again.

Sign the petition and RootsAction will deliver it to leaders of the U.S. and Israeli governments, insisting that all diplomatic avenues be pursued and opposing any military attack on Iran.