Shima Babaei

Shima Babaei is an Iranian women’s rights activist who lives in exile in Belgium. As an architecture student in Iran, Shima became a prominent women’s rights activist, partaking in the “Girls of Revolution Street” anti-hijab demonstrations from 2017-2019. Because of her activism, she was imprisoned twice and placed in Iran’s infamous Evin prison. Facing further imprisonment, a travel ban, and the deprivation of her citizenship rights, Shima fled Iran in 2018. Shima has been involved in campaigning in Europe in the years since. She spoke at the 15th annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, wherein she won the 2023 Women’s Rights Award of the Geneva Summit. Her father, Ebrahim Babaei, a former political opponent of the regime, has been missing since he attempted to cross the Iranian border to Turkey in 2021.