The interrogation video was broadcast on the very same day that the Iranian Republic committed to the protection of human rights defenders at a UN council meeting in Geneva. Televised video confessions are frequently shown on national television as a means of harassing political opponents and public convicting them for their “crimes.”

At the time of her husbands ordeal, Ebadi instructed all members of her family that, if arrested, they should make false confessions against her without reserve. Ebadi’s family and colleagues have often been the targets of the Iranian regimes attempts to intimidate Ebadi out of her human rights advocacy.