Career
She has published and lectured worldwide. She has also served as a judge in the 1965 International Tribunal. Sadr majored in law and holds a Master"s Degree in international law from Tehran University (1999).
Sadr was the Director of Raahi, a legal advice center for women, shut down by the Islamic Republic authorities, as well as Zanan-e Iran, a website dedicated to women"s rights activists.
While in Iran, she represented several women sentenced to death and as a result of her extensive activities, was imprisoned in Iran on various occasions prior to her departure to Germany and United Kingdom in 2009. Sadr is an expert on women"s legal rights in Iran.
She was director of Raahi, a now-closed legal advice center for women, and founded the website Women in Iran to showcase women"s rights efforts in Iran. She is one of the Iranians who have campaigned to eradicate the practice of capital punishment by stoning, particularly of women, in a campaign known as End Stoning Forever.
This campaign is one of several launched by Women"s Field, a women"s rights group of which Sadr is a member.
Shadi Sadr was one of 33 women arrested in March 2007 after gathering outside a Tehran courtroom to protest peacefully against the trial of five women accused of “propaganda against the system”, “acting against national security” and “participating in an illegal demonstration” in connection with a 12 June 2006 demonstration in support of women"s rights. Sadr was held for fifteen days before being freed on bail together with Mahbubeh Abbasgholizadeh. On 17 July 2009, Shadi Sadr was beaten by plainclothes militiamen and taken away as she headed toward Tehran University for the Friday Prayers led by Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
She was walking on Keshavarz Boulevard with several other female activists when individuals in civilian dress approached and refused to identify themselves or justify their actions before forcing her into a waiting car.
After she had briefly escaped, her companions were restrained as she was beaten and forced back into the car. lieutenant then took her to an unknown location.
She later called her husband, according to some reports to ask for a cellphone password. She was released 11 days later on July 28, 2009.
