In Iran, the government has announced a ban on the legal rights group headed by Nobel Peace Prize winning lawyer Shirin Ebadi. The Interior Ministry says the Centre for Defence of Human Rights is illegal because it did not apply for a proper permit. Tehran says it will now prosecute any of the group’s activities. Ebadi’s group has been a leading advocate for hundreds of persecuted dissidents, journalists and academics. Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division, said: “If [Shirin] Ebadi is threatened for defending human rights, then no one who works for human rights can feel safe from government prosecution.”