TEHRAN (AFP) — Dozens of protesters demonstrated outside the home of Iranian Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi on Thursday, chanting slogans accusing her of supporting US and Israeli “crimes,” she told AFP.
Around “150 demonstrators gathered outside my building and chanted slogans opposed to me,” Ebadi said.
They chanted “America and Israel commit crimes, Ebadi supports them,” said the lawyer and human rights activist.
The protesters dispersed 30 minutes later as police deployed but before leaving they scribbled graffiti on the facade of the building and tore down the sign of her office which is housed in the same building, she said.
Ebadi described the incident as an “attack” but said “it has nothing to do with what is happening in Gaza because we published two days ago a statement condemning what is going on and supporting the Palestinians.”
Tehran has been gripped by almost daily protests since Israel launched last week a deadly onslaught against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in retaliation from rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave.
Last week Iranian police raided the private office of Ebadi, who won the Nobel peace prize in 2003.
On December 21 they raided and shut down the office of her Human Rights Defenders Centre, signalling a toughening crackdown on rights groups in the Islamic republic.
Iranian authorities said the rights group office was shut down because the centre did not have an interior ministry permit to operate.