I can't even imagine the courage some of these folks have.

With so much misinformation about Iran out there, it was helpful to read about the country from the perspective of an actual Iranian. Shirin Ebadi - the first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2003 - was a judge prior to the 1979 revolution, at which point the new Islamic Republic's authorities stripped her of her judgeship and demoted her to court clerk. So she turned instead to advocating for women, children, dissidents, and minorities like Sufis and Baha'is.

Until We Are Free charts her struggles to advance women's rights and human rights, to hold the government accountable for its crimes, to make progress in the face of escalating harassment, intimidation, surveillance, the bullying of everyone in her life, threat after threat after threat, and eventual exile. Ebadi remains an immensely strong, courageous, and deeply principled person throughout, always motivated not just by what's right, but also by her love of her homeland and her religion.

Anyway, as depressing as this book often was (even the hopeful epilogue was depressing, since the hope was for the success of the Iran nuclear deal), it was a rewarding read. I'd recommend it.

It took me years to get around to reading this book despite the fact that I look up to Shirin Ebadi immensely. It was a wonderful memoir in the sense that it was well written and important for me to read, though it's certainly not a happy tale.

Ebadi opens her 2016 memoir and narrative with a story about her work as a human rights lawyer in the early 2000s defending children and teens who are imprisoned and (sometimes) executed by the state for "crimes" they may or may not have committed. Opening the book with this gravitas sets the tone - serious, life-altering, and dangerous work. She briefly retraces the shifts and changes in her own career after the 1979 Revolution / overthrow of the Shah, and the shift to sharia law in her country. As a woman, she was no longer allowed to hold court as a judge, but continues her work as a pro bono attorney fighting for women and children's rights.

Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, making her the first Muslim woman and first Iranian to receive this honor.

She describes the increased state surveillance after the Nobel Prize ceremony, the threats to her and her family, and further resistance and activism against the administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the mid/late 2000s.

Told in chapter narratives/essays, this book offers insight into Iranian politics, human rights abuses, as well as the role of women in Iranian society. Ebadi continues this work in exile.

A remarkably raw and open account of Shirin Ebadi's life and how the Iranian government didn't and doesn't shy away from anything to silence her - and she won't be silenced and continues her fight for Human Rights in Iran.
What deeply disturbs me though is that she is religious and tries to see everything in the light of what Islam "actually" says. Religion really poisons everything.

È sempre doloroso leggere di paesi dove la libertà non si può mai dare per scontata, nemmeno per le piccole cose. Ma è utile a noi per poter apprezzare di più il luogo in cui viviamo e quello che abbiamo, ed è utile a loro per poter trovare un appiglio esterno e un aiuto che, restando chiusi in loro stessi, non potrebbero trovare.

The matter-of-fact telling of Ebadi's story does not need dramatic language to make it gripping. Ebadi fights for change within her country for the first half of the book and then from exile in the second half with a steeliness that is staggering. Although her writing is restrained, she doesn't shy away from talking about both the larger elements at stake as well as the very personal effects on herself and her family. The book illustrates the ways that political change is made up of many small acts over time; it's somehow both inspiring and discouraging all at once.

4,5*
Heart breaking read...