There has been heightened fascination with Iran since at least 1979. The 2009 contested presidential elections and the escalating bras de fer over the country’s nuclear programme have only fed this interest. Still, Iran and Iranians remain very much misunderstood outside of the territorial boundaries of Iran. The Stanford Program of Law & Society will be hosting a panel discussion on the Iranian legal system and the tectonic legal changes that have taken place in the country in modern history, in particular since the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 to the present and the continuing ramifications arising from the friction between law, politics and society in the country.

Overview of the History of Iran’s Legal System: From the Persian Constitutional Revolution to the Present
Prof. Farhad Ameli of Sorbonne University (Paris)

Legal Reform & Women’s Rights: Pre & Post Revolution
Mehrangiz Kar, an award winning human rights activist

Law, Modernity & Iran: Evolution, Devolution, Revolution
Prof. Abbas Milani, the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University, and Co-Director of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution

About the Speakers

Farhad Ameli: is Professor of Law at the Sorbonne and Sciences Po Paris. He is a senior partner of Paris-based law firm BEA Avocats. Prof. Ameli has authored numerous textbooks and articles in the fields of, inter alia, ethics, international law, as well as the history of Iran’s legal system. He serves on the scientific board of Analytica Iranica.

Mehrangiz Kar: is an Iranian lawyer and activist specializing in women’s rights. She has received numerous awards for her human rights work and efforts in promoting women’s rights, including the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize (2002). She has served as a fellow at, inter alia, the Woodrow Wilson Center, the American University in Washington DC, the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and Columbia University. Most recently, she was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard and was also based at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She has been recognized as a Scholar at Risk.

Abbas Milani: is the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University, and Co-Director of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution. He previously served as an assistant professor in the faculty of law and political science at Tehran University and as a member of the board of directors of Tehran University’s Center for International Studies from 1979 to 1987. A prolific writer, his work has appeared in top journals, magazines and newspapers. He is a frequent commentator on national and international radio and television programs. He is the author of many books and scholarly publications, including, most recently, The Shah.

For more information, please contact Agnes Chong or Sasan Sam Shoamanesh.

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