How can you defy fear? Fear is a human instinct, just like hunger. Whether you like it or not, you become hungry. Similarly with fear. But I have learned to train myself to live with this fear.

They denied that Ebadi's activities were directly related to the goals of the prize as originally stated by Alfred Nobel. The Iranian foreign ministry subsequently denied the confiscation and also criticised Norway for interfering in Iran's affairs. It is not religion that binds women but the selective dictates of those who wish them cloistered.

She was the first ever Iranian to receive the prize. In 2009 Ebadi's award was allegedly confiscated by Iranian authorities though this was later denied by the Iranian government. In 2004 Shirin Ebadi was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the "100 most powerful women in the world".