Defenders of Human Rights Center

The Defenders of Human Rights Center (also known as the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights, Persian: کانون مدافعان حقوق بشر ) is an Iranian human rights organization.

Based in Tehran, the organization has been active in defending rights of women, political prisoners and minorities in Iran. Several of the most prominent Iranian lawyers founded the organization and are members. Shirin Ebadi, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is the current president of DHRC. Ebadi along with four other notable Iranian lawyers, Abdolfattah Soltani, Mohammad Seifzadeh, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah and Mohammad Sharif, were the founding members of the organization.Narges Mohammadi joined the organization in 2003 and went on to become its vice president.

The Center is a member of the International Federation for Human Rights and received the 2003 Human Rights Award of the French National Commission of Human Rights.

No permit is required for organizations like DHRC to operate in Iran, but it may be advantageous to have one. During neither the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, nor that of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has the DHRC succeeded in obtaining official registration. DHRC requested a permit in February 2004. According to Ebadi, in September 2006, the Political Deputy of the Ministry of the Interior announced that the Commission had approved the request, but the Ministry of the Interior never issued a permit.

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