Iranian human rights lawyer believes military intervention would lead to domestic crackdown

Iran’s top human rights lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, said that although the human rights situation in Iran has deteriorated over the course of the past year, with executions of minors and media censorship, military action is not the solution to Iran’s domestic problems, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported today.

“A military attack will under any circumstances worsen our situation,” Ebadi said on the sidelines of an international conference in Prague this week. “It'll give the government the opportunity to use defense of national security as a pretext to increase its suppression of defenders of freedom.”

She added that Iranians speaking out for democracy and human rights are accused of receiving financial aid from the U.S. government in order to begin a “velvet revolution.” Ebadi believes, however, that this is the time human rights defenders need to be the most active.

Speculation has increased over the past months about the U.S. using military force against Iran. Washington has said it would rather settle the dispute over Iran’s nuclear policy diplomatically, but U.S. officials have also said that all options are open.

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