Courage

CNN:

Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi told Iran's hard-line Revolutionary Court on Saturday she won't obey a vague summons on her to appear for questioning, even if it means she will be jailed -- an open challenge to a powerful body that has tried and convicted many pro-reform intellectuals. Ebadi, the first Iranian and Muslim woman to win the Nobel peace prize in 2003, vowed in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with The Associated Press to resist hard-line threats against her life and will never bow to intimidation. 'I do continue to receive anonymous death threats in various forms such as threatening letters and calls,' Ebadi, 57, said. 'I've come to believe people who send threatening messages are linked to certain people who provoke them.' 'This is intimidation. My record shows that I won't give in to intimidation.'

This is the sort of thing that can bring an end to despotic regimes. Sadly, I am sure the mullahs know that and the puts Shirin Ebadi in very serious danger. I continue to hope that reform in Iran can occur peacefully and without too much bloodshed but I also fear that this hope will not come to pass.