Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad
Encyclopedia
Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad was an Iranian student, poet and demonstrator who was shot and killed in the attack by security forces on Tehran University dormitory that preceded and provoked the July 1999 student riots in Iran
. Several other students were beaten and injured in the attack and some police were later brought to trial, but no trial has been held for Ebrahim-Nejad's killer, who according to witnesses was a lebas-shakhsis, or plainsclothesman, a "shorthand" term for "paramilitary forces in civilian clothes." According to Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi
, it was Ebrahim-Nejad who was the owner of the blood-stained shirt held aloft by Ahmad Batebi
in a celebrated photo which appeared on the cover of The Economist magazine in 1999.
Shirin Ebadi, who worked as Ebrahim-Nejad family's pro bono lawyer, described Ebrahim-Nejad as "talented, hardworking, and ambitious" and his father as willing "to sell his small house in the provinces to hire a lawyer to pursue his son's killers." The family also complained to Ebadi of harassment - having stones thrown at them by vigilantes when they attempted to visit their son's grave and being barred from government offices in the wake of the tragedy.
According to Ebadi, after much delay over who had jurisdiction over Ezzat's case, the revolutionary court dismissed it "since no people had officially been charged and since Ezzat was dead anyway."
Iran student riots, July 1999
Iranian Student Protests of July, 1999 were, before the 2009 Iranian election protests, the most widespread and violent public protests to occur in Iran since the early years of the Iranian Revolution.The protests began on July 8 with peaceful demonstrations in Tehran against the closure of the...
. Several other students were beaten and injured in the attack and some police were later brought to trial, but no trial has been held for Ebrahim-Nejad's killer, who according to witnesses was a lebas-shakhsis, or plainsclothesman, a "shorthand" term for "paramilitary forces in civilian clothes." According to Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi
Shirin Ebadi
Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, a former judge and human rights activist and founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. On 10 October 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially women's,...
, it was Ebrahim-Nejad who was the owner of the blood-stained shirt held aloft by Ahmad Batebi
Ahmad Batebi
Ahmad Batebi is a former prisoner of conscience. During his studies at the University of Tehran he gained international fame for his appearance on the July 17, 1999 cover of The Economist magazine, holding up a shirt splattered with the blood of a fellow protester.The photo, which has been called...
in a celebrated photo which appeared on the cover of The Economist magazine in 1999.
Shirin Ebadi, who worked as Ebrahim-Nejad family's pro bono lawyer, described Ebrahim-Nejad as "talented, hardworking, and ambitious" and his father as willing "to sell his small house in the provinces to hire a lawyer to pursue his son's killers." The family also complained to Ebadi of harassment - having stones thrown at them by vigilantes when they attempted to visit their son's grave and being barred from government offices in the wake of the tragedy.
According to Ebadi, after much delay over who had jurisdiction over Ezzat's case, the revolutionary court dismissed it "since no people had officially been charged and since Ezzat was dead anyway."
Sources
- Payvand's Iran News ...1/25/01 Majlis commission receives complaints on various cases
- Ebadi, Shirin, Iran Awakening, by Shirin Ebadi with Azadeh Moaveni, Random House New York, 2006, p. 156-7