Prize in Oslo, warnings back home for Shirin Ebadi
Wed Dec 10, 5:33 AM
TEHRAN (AFP) - As human rights activist Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Islamic hardliners back home handed her a warning that she will have to pay for her decision to appear in public overseas without a headscarf and for allegedly shaking the hand of a man here in Tehran.


"Mrs Ebadi has not only put into question Islamic precepts by unveiling herself," fumed a statement from student members of the Basij, a radical volunteer militia attached to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.


"She has also provoked the religious sentiments of students by publicly shaking the hand of a man at Amir Kabir university, which has provoked several weeks of tensions at the university," said the statement, which was carried by the ultra-conservative Jomhuri Islami newspaper.


The Basij group is believed to have been behind an attack on Ebadi last week, when around 50 hardliners stopped her giving a speech at Al-Zahra women's university in Tehran by chanting slogans including "Death to Ebadi" and "Shirin the American, ask for pardon".


Their statement also warned university officials of a "reaction" if those involved in the attack were expelled from the campus.


The radical Ya-Lessarat weekly also plastered Ebadi on its front page, with the headline "Monafeqin (hypocrites) have no place at university" -- using a term the regime usually reserves for the Iraq (news - web sites)-based People's Mujahedeen armed opposition group.


Ebadi, whose campaign for the rights of women and children and her defence of dissidents has earned her the wrath of hardliners, did not escape attention in other conservative papers.


On Monday, the Kayhan newspaper branded her "Sharon Ebadi" -- a reference to the hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites).


In a caricature, it showed the two main enemies of the Islamic republic -- Sharon and US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) -- embracing, with Bush asking "How are you, Shirin?"