--- description: Find out why Shirin Ebadi is one of the 100 most influential people of 2026. title: Shirin Ebadi: The 100 Most Influential People of 2026 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60f7a3f5d4992b20/69dfb9743022bd57b975468b/T100-2026-Web-Shirin-Ebadi-345.png?branch=production --- Apr 15, 2026 # Shirin Ebadi by Jody Williams  Suzanne Plunkett—Reuters My Nobel sister [Shirin Ebadi](https://time.com/4262491/shirin-ebadi/ "undefined") is one of the most steadfast, determined women I know. She served as a presiding judge—the first woman in Iran to do so—until the 1979 Islamic revolution when she was reduced to being a clerk in what had been her own courtroom. Instead of silent acceptance, she retrained as a lawyer and tackled the regime head-on, taking cases of political dissidents and horrific abuses of women and children. She exposed problematic child-custody laws and challenged cruel norms such as requiring a rape victim’s family to pay to restore their “honor.” Shirin argued for women’s rights and fearlessly fought for those the regime sought to silence. Its response was her arrest and solitary confinement. She ended up living in exile, but she has never retreated. Shirin continues to expose abuses in Iran and is now helping lay the groundwork for the future. While Iran is her primary focus, at her suggestion 20 years ago, we co-founded the Nobel Women’s Initiative to support women’s organizations fighting for peace and justice in zones of conflict worldwide. I am proud, always, to be her friend. _Williams is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate_ Shirin Ebadi Is on the 2026 TIME100 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/shirin-ebadi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/shirin-ebadi/"},"headline":"Shirin Ebadi","datePublished":"2026-04-15T11:00:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:21:48.112Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/shirin-ebadi/","keywords":["TIME 100","list","franchise","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60f7a3f5d4992b20/69dfb9743022bd57b975468b/T100-2026-Web-Shirin-Ebadi-345.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jody Williams"}],"creator":"Jody Williams","articleSection":"TIME100","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60f7a3f5d4992b20/69dfb9743022bd57b975468b/T100-2026-Web-Shirin-Ebadi-345.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/time100/","name":"TIME100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/shirin-ebadi/","name":"Shirin Ebadi"}}]}] ```