Shirin Ebadi was born on June 21, 1947 in Hamadan, Iran.

After studying law, she became the first female judge in the history of Iran. From 1975 until her expulsion from office during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, she chaired the Senate of the Tehran City Court. She then worked as a lawyer and university lecturer.

She sees herself as a democratic woman of Muslim faith and, on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, advocates an equal role for women in public life.

She also fights for children's rights and was a co-founder of the Society for Protecting the Child's Rights in 1994. In 2003, she was the first Muslim woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her commitment.

Due to her criticism of the regime in her home country, she went into exile in the UK at the end of 2009.

Ebadi visited Hesse in May 2012. In Frankfurt, she was awarded the Avicenna Prize for her commitment to the peaceful and tolerant coexistence of different cultures.

During her subsequent visit to Wiesbaden on May 6, 2012, she was received by Lord Mayor Müller in the town hall. He praised her commitment and described Dr. Ebadi's visit to the Hessian state capital as a great honor.

The Nobel laureate thanked him for the warm welcome and then signed the city's Golden Book.