Tehran, Jan. 17 (Reuters): Iran?s Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi today issued an unprecedented demand for Iranian authorities to ban the use of solitary confinement because she said it amounted to torture, again defying the Islamic republic.

Ebadi, who last week refused to obey a summons from Iran?s feared Revolutionary Court, said: ?I am calling on judiciary officials to issue a stern order banning the use of solitary confinement.? Ebadi, who was the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, said the use of solitary confinement was widespread, particularly for political dissidents, despite previous judicial orders for it to be discontinued.

Speaking at a rare conference during which a number of former prisoners recounted their experiences in solitary confinement, Ebadi said it was a tool of unpopular governments.

?Why should the ones who say: ?Long live democracy? be tortured?... Is seeking democracy and freedom a crime??

Ebadi spent 25 days in solitary confinement in 2000 as a result of one of her cases ? an experience which she said caused a childhood speech defect to resurface. The youngest speaker at the gathering was journalist Hanif Mazroui, 26, one of 23 journalists and Internet technicians jailed during a crackdown on liberal websites late last year. ?I always thought these sort of things didn?t happen in our country any more,? said Mazroui, who spent 60 days in solitary confinement.