On October 14 2003, at the arrival of Ms. Shirin Ebadi, the winner of 2003 Noble Peace Prize, more than 20,000 people in the Mehrabad airport and the nearby areas were shouting slogans, including this: Khatami shame on you. This slogan along with the other chanting clearly shows the direction of the Iranian democratic movement against the Islamic Regime in Iran. The entire cleric regime, with all its factions, is still in shock from the great achievement by Ms. Ebadi.Comically, cleric dependents and some of the regimes parliament representatives were forced to congratulate Ms. Ebadi for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Even some of distinguished figures from 2-Khordad faction, the so called reformers, ran to the airport to go alongside Ms. Ebadi at the time of arrival. But in reality, regardless of Ms. Ebadis actions and progress toward human rights improvement for Iran’s future generations, the Islamic regime has, in fact, been the recipients of an enormous defeat.

The Nobel Peace Prize was given to Ms. Ebadi for her efforts against human rights violations under cleric regimes rules in the last 24 years. More interestingly, just before Ms. Ebadis arrival, Mr. Khatami’s statements to the press confirm his (and other leaders in the regimes) genuine feelings. After being questioned on his reaction to the Nobel Committees decision, Khatami replied, the Nobel Peace Prize is not that important and I cant take a position on any unimportant event everyday. Later on, the Islamic Presidents Office ordered press and newspapers to correct his remarks on the Nobel Prize issue.

The point is that the concept of giving this highly prestigious award (contrary to Khatamis views) to Ms. Ebadi reveals the Islamic regimes records in human rights violations, tortures, executions, gender apartheid, and oppression of religious and ethnic minorities in the last 24 years. The issue is so clear that some of the regime’s factions cannot create confusion. This prize was given to Ms. Ebadi not only because of her remarkable efforts on human rights and the rights of women and children in particular, but it is also a product of the movement of womens resistance against the controlling bullies of fundamentalist and fanatic groups that are, to this day, practicing their power in the name of Islam for more than two decades.

This prize is result of the peoples struggle and the real opposition groups hard work. This prize is the voice of all those people that lost their lives in mass murder events in 1982 and the summer of 1989. This prize should be praised and the symbol that it stands for should be supported. Ms. Ebadi will determine her historical role and responsible position more in the future with her actions and efforts with standing for implementing human rights in Iran. With their records on human rights violations, it is clear why Khatami and other Islamic leaders do not appreciate any Nobel Prize and its many repercussions.The Islamic leaders know that their practices will inevitably lie under magnify glasses. For Islamic leaders ruling in Iran, this is a case of quicksand in which the more they stir, the faster they will go under, a swamp that was, ironically, produced by the same Islamic fundamentalists that had initially demolished human rights in Iran.