Nobel laureate Ebadi says human rights in Iran have not improved

Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi says the human rights situation in Iran is as bad under President Hassan Rouhani as it was under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and in some cases it is worse.

Ebadi said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press the difference is that Ahmadinejad supported severe limitations on human rights while Rouhani has vowed to ease restrictions on freedom of expression and eliminate discrimination against women and minorities.

But she says Rouhani “can’t do much” amid stiff resistance from hard-liners.

Ebadi is in New York for two days campaigning for support for a U.N. General Assembly resolution that expresses deep concern at the “serious ongoing and recurring human rights violations” in Iran.