Keeping Iran's Heart Beating- Stories of Women's Rights Activists by Amnesty International Ireland Iran Group

KEEPING IRAN’S HEART BEATING:

STORIES OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISTS:

BAHAREH ALAVI & HALEH SAHABI WHO TRAGICALLY PASSED AWAY IN 2011

I KEEPING

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A R I

S T S I V I T C A S T H G I R S ’ N E M O W ES OF

STORI

WOMEN IN IRAN ARE OFTEN PORTRAYED AS VICTIMS - HELPLESSLY UNABLE TO STAND UP AND CLAIM THEIR OWN RIGHTS. THE TRUTH, HOWEVER, IS THAT IRANIAN WOMEN ARE AT THE VERY HEART OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT, AND ARE SOME OF THE MOST COURAGEOUS AND EFFECTIVE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGNERS IN IRAN. ‘Keeping Iran’s Heart Beating - Stories of Women’s Rights Activists’ is an exhibition which celebrates Iranian women’s rights defenders. It showcases the women, and the men, who stand up for women’s rights in Iran on a daily basis and seeks to tell their story. This exhibition, which is funded by the TCD Community Initiative Fund, has been put together by members of the Amnesty Iran group in Ireland, with the support of Amnesty International. This exhibition proﬁles 19 women’s rights activists from Iran. Many have been imprisoned for their work and some have been forced into exile, but they continue to ﬁght for women’s rights in Iran.

Trinity College Dublin has a long and important tradition of outreach and community engagement through which the College remains connected with society in manifold and mutually enriching ways. Volunteering and community service among students and staff is facilitated, encouraged and supported as a means of contributing to society, broadening horizons, building transferable skills and personal development. ‘Keeping Iran’s Heart Beating’ is one of three own-initiative projects being run by Trinity students and supported by the Trinity College Civic Engagement Ofﬁcer and Community Initiative Funding made available through the generosity of Trinity Alumni. In each case, the students have dedicated their summer to these projects while community partners such as Amnesty International Ireland are supervising the projects, acting in an advisory capacity and facilitating implementation. To learn more about the Community Initiative Funding and follow the recipient students’ blogs, visit www.tcd.ie/Community.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A KEEPING IR TAKE ACTION

JOIN THE IRAN GROUP The Amnesty International Ireland Iran Group was established in the summer of 2009 at the height of post-election protests in Iran, when many activists and peaceful protesters were arrested and the surge in executions became alarming. The group is currently focusing on three areas: 1. Women’s Rights 2. The Death Penalty 3. Prisoners of Conscience We hold regular events to raise awareness of the above issues faced by the people of Iran. The group is open to anybody who has an interest in contributing!

JOIN AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Amnesty International Ireland is the country’s largest human rights organisation with over 15,000 members and supporters. We are part of a global movement of more than 3.2 million people working in more than 150 countries around the world. We are independent of any political ideology, economic interest or religion. We do not support or oppose any government or political system. Our sole concern is the protection of the fundamental human rights guaranteed to each one of us by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

If you would like more information on the work of the Amnesty Iran Group, or if you would like to get involved, please email irangroup@amnesty.ie or visit our web page www.amnesty.ie/our-work/iran.

TAKE ACTION Please take action to support human rights defenders in Iran. You can:

Host this exhibition. Email us at irangroup@amnesty.ie for more details.

Take action online for those who are still in prison at www.amnesty.ie

Amnesty International Ireland takes part in three global campaigns; against torture and terror, to end FGM and to abolish the death penalty. We also work on four priority countries, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Iran, Colombia and Zimbabwe.

3. 4.

If you would like more information or if you would like to get involved, please send an email to info@amnesty.ie.

Use a postcard to write a message to one or all of the people in the exhibition expressing your support for their work.

IRAN

Current ﬂag of the Islamic Republic of Iran

IRAN POPULATION 77,891,220 (estimated 2010)

MAJOR CITIES • Tehran (capital): 7.19 million • Mashhad: 2.592 million • Esfahan: 1.704 million • Karaj: 1.531 million

DEATH PENALTY

• Tabriz: 1.459 million

•

Retentionist

•

In 2010, the authorities acknowledged 252 executions, but there were credible reports of more than 300 other executions. The true total could be even higher. At least one juvenile offender was executed. Sentences of death by stoning continue to be passed.

ETHNIC GROUPS 3%

2% 2%1%

7% 100%

8% Other

51%

24%

CONSTITUTION Persian and Persian dialects (official) Balochi

Kurdish Turkish Luri

Turkic and Turkic dialects Arabic

Other

1%2% 1% 2%1%

RELIGIONS

Completed 3 December 1979; revised 1989. Note: the revision in 1989 expanded powers of the presidency and eliminated the position of prime minister.

Ofﬁce of the Supreme Leader / AP

GENERAL POLITICAL CONTEXT •

Iran is a theocratic republic, with a religious legal system based on sharia law

•

The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, is the most powerful political ﬁgure in Iran. He appoints the head of the judiciary, six of the 12 members of the powerful Guardian Council, the commanders of all the armed forces, Friday prayer leaders and the head of radio and TV. He also conﬁrms the president’s election.

•

President Ahmadinejad is a hard-liner both at home - where he does not favour the development or reform of political institutions - and abroad. A continuous crackdown on human rights at home has been married with a combative attitude in the international arena.

Muslim (ofﬁcial) 98% (Shia 89%, Sunni 9%) Other (includes Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Baha’i) 2% 58%

Iran is a signatory or party to the following international treaties: •

International Covenant on Social and Cultural Rights

•

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

•

Convention on the Rights of the Child

•

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

•

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

•

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

26%

Persian Arab

7% 100%

Other

2% 2%1%

Azeri

Gilaki and Mazandarani

Lur

Baloch

Kurd

Turkmen

8% Other

51%

24%

Persian and Persian dialects (official) Balochi Turkic and Turkic dialects Arabic

Kurdish Turkish Luri

•

Other

LANGUAGES

1%2% 1% 2%1%

HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAN

•

BORDER COUNTRIES: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan 58%

26%

HEAD OF STATE Azeri Persian

Economic,

•

Gilaki and Mazandarani

Ayatollah Sayed LurAli Khamenei Arab Baloch (Supreme Other of the Islamic Leader Republic Turkmen of Iran) Kurd

HEAD OF GOVERNMENT Dr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (President)

•

The authorities maintained severe restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly. Sweeping controls on domestic and international media aimed at reducing Iranians’ contact with the outside world are imposed. Individuals and groups risk arrest, torture and imprisonment if perceived as co-operating with human rights and foreign-based Persian language media organizations. Torture and other ill treatment of detainees are routine and committed with impunity.

•

Formal political parties are a relatively new phenomenon in Iran and most conservatives still prefer to work through political pressure groups rather than parties The force is estimated to have 125,000 active troops. It boasts its own ground forces, navy and air force, and oversees Iran’s strategic weapons. The Guards also have a powerful presence in civilian institutions and are thought to control around a third of Iran’s economy through a series of subsidiaries and trusts. They also control the Basij Militia, a voluntary militia called out in times of crisis. Clerics dominate Iranian society and the judiciary. In recent years, conservative hardliners have used the judicial system to undermine reforms by imprisoning reformist personalities and journalists and closing down reformist papers.

WOMEN IN IRAN Women in Iran face widespread discrimination under the law. •

They are excluded from key areas of the state – they cannot, for example, be judges or stand for the presidency.

•

They do not have equal rights with men in marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance.

•

Criminal harm suffered by a woman is less severely punished than the same harm suffered by a man.

•

Evidence given by women in court is worth half that given by a man.

•

Although the legal age for marriage is 13, fathers can apply for permission to arrange that their daughters are married at a younger age – and to men much older than their daughters.

•

Men are allowed to practice polygamy. Women are not.

•

Men have an incontestable right in law to divorce their spouse. Women do not.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A KEEPING IR S IN IRAN P U O R G S T H G I WOMEN’S R

Despite constant reprisal and harassment, many Iranian women’s rights groups and campaigns continue to thrive. They highlight issues such as inequality between men and women, the right to freedom of expression and the use of stoning in execution. Here are a few of the most prominent Iranian women’s rights groups.

CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS (CHRD)

THE ONE MILLION SIGNATURES CAMPAIGN

The CHRD was co-founded by the Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, along with four other prominent human rights lawyers, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, Mohammad Seyfzadeh, Mohammad Sharif and Abdolfattah Soltani. The CHRD reported on human rights violations in Iran, provided free legal help for political prisoners and supported their families.

The One Million Signatures Campaign, also known as the Campaign for Equality, was launched in 2006. It is a grassroots initiative composed of a network of people committed to ending discrimination against women in Iranian law. The Campaign gives basic legal training to volunteers, who travel around the country promoting it’s ideals. They talk with women in their homes, as well as in public places, telling them about their rights and the need for legal reform. The volunteers are also aiming to collect one million signatures of Iranian nationals for a petition demanding an end to discriminatory laws against women in Iran.

The CHRD in Iran unsuccessfully sought legal registration since its formation in 2001. As a result, Shirin Ebadi and her colleagues had to work in a legal limbo and under constant threat of closure and reprisals. They also faced repeated harassment, intimidation, arrest and imprisonment. The ofﬁce of the CHRD was forcibly closed in December 2008. Several of its members have been detained since the 2009 presidential election. Mohammad Seyfzadeh, a lawyer, was sentenced to nine years in prison in connection with his co-founding of the CHRD. Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, has not returned to Iran since the presidential election. She has received many death threats, and her bank account in Iran containing her Nobel Prize money has been frozen, in contravention of Iranian law.

The members of the Campaign are careful to conduct their activities in full compliance with the law. The Iranian Constitution permits peaceful gatherings and that it is entirely legal under Iranian law to hold educational workshops and to collect signatures for a petition calling for legislative change. However, dozens of the Campaign’s activists have been arrested or harassed for their activities, some while collecting signatures for the petition. Frequently denied ofﬁcial permission to hold public meetings, Campaign activists usually hold their workshops in the homes of sympathizers, some of whom have then received threatening phone calls, allegedly from security ofﬁcials or been summoned for interrogation. Campaign for Equality activists have also been prevented from travelling abroad.

STOP STONING FOREVER CAMPAIGN A group of Iranian human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists, led by lawyer Shadi Sadr and journalists Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Asieh Amini, along with other activists outside Iran launched the Stop Stoning Forever campaign in 2006, to abolish stoning in law and practice. According to the Iranian Penal Code, stoning is mandated for most forms of adultery. The campaign aims to save the life of anyone under sentence of stoning in Iran. Their courageous efforts have been supported by international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, and many individuals around the world. Since 2006, at least 13 women and two men have been saved from stoning. Others have been granted stays of execution, and some cases are being reviewed or retried. However, the campaign has faced repression in Iran and its supporters have been intimidated and harassed. Some have been forced to leave the country for their own safety and now live in exile.

MOTHERS FOR PEACE Mothers for Peace was set up in 2007 when over 500 women signed a letter to Iranian ofﬁcials opposing the national nuclear policy. Mothers for Peace campaigns against possible military intervention in Iran over its nuclear programme, seeks “viable solutions” to the region’s instability and campaigns against the arrest, detention and harassment of ordinary Iranians. Members of the organisation have been arrested and detained on many occasions. The Ministry of Intelligence has suggested the Mothers for Peace has links with left wing groups such as the People’s Fedaiyan Organisation of Iran. Mothers for Peace strongly denies that is has any political afﬁliations.

MOURNING MOTHERS/ MOTHERS OF LALEH The Mourning Mothers are women whose children have been killed, disappeared or detained in post-election violence in Iran since June 2009. Members of the group include the mothers of Neda Agha-Soltan and Sohrab Arabi, both of whom lost thier lives as a result of 2009 post-election protests. The Mourning Mothers meet in silence for an hour each Saturday, near the place and time of the killing of protester Neda AghaSoltan, to commemorate their sons and daughters who died during the protests following the disputed 2009 presidential elections. In January 2010, the Mourning Mothers held a peaceful vigil at Laleh Park, Tehran. The 33 women were seized, several of the women were beaten and 10 were taken to hospital. All 33 women were held in Vozara Detention Centre, Tehran. Members of the group were also arrested and detained in December 2009.

COMMITTEE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTERS (CHRR) The CHRR was founded in 2006 and campaigns against a wide range of human rights violations, including those affecting women, children, prisoners and workers. It has come under particular attack since the June 2009 election. In January 2010, the Tehran Prosecutor accused the group of having links to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, a banned group, and said that “any collaboration with the [CHRR] is a crime”. The CHRR vehemently denies having such links.

KEEPING

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N A R I N I T N E M VE O M S ’ N E M O W F THE

TIMELINE O

Iranian women’s activism dates back to the late nineteenth century. The following is a brief history of the courageous struggle by Iranian women to claim their rights and some of the challenges that they still face in doing so. 2009 - 2011 ELECTION PERIOD & AFTERMATH

2008

2011 June 4

July

July 17

Iran’s national women’s soccer team was withdrawn from a qualifying game for the 2012 Olympics for failing to abide by FIFAs dress requirements. FIFA requests that no player shall cover her ears and neck, a requirement of Iran’s Islamic dress code. Human rights defender and filmmaker Mahnaz Mohammadi and famous actress, blogger, and documentary filmmaker Pegah Ahangarani are arrested and detained. Mahnaz Mohammadi is refused access to her family or legal representation. Actress Marzieh Vafamehr is arrested for her role in the film My Tehran for Sale, due to appearing in the movie without a hijab.

February 14

April

Five political prisoners including a 28 year-old Kurdish woman Shirin Alam Holi are executed in secret.

June 8

Shirin Ebadi, a founder of the One Million Signatures Campaign, declares, “The brutal crackdowns only make Iran’s women stronger”.

June 12

Presidential elections held.

June 13

Authorities declare the incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner with nearly 63 per cent of vote. Mir Hossein Mousavi comes second with 34 per cent and claims election fraud. Thousands of protesters clash with police.

January 10

The Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, orders a ban on the practice of stoning. However, the courts continute to issue sentences of death by stoning.

Anousheh Ansari becomes the ﬁrst Iranian to enter space.

2000

The First IPA Publishers Freedom Prize goes to courageous female Iranian publisher, Shala Lahiji.

March 8

Nasim Sarabandi and Fatemeh Dehdashti, members of the One Million Signatures Campaign are arrested and detained for collecting signatures in the subway.

1999

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is found guilty of adultery by a court in Tabriz and sentenced to 99 lashes, carried out in front of her 17 year-old son. Her case is later reopened when a Tabriz court suspects her involvement in her husband’s death. She is later acquitted but the judge reviews her earlier charge of adultery and sentences her to death by stoning.

March 8

Activist group Mourning Mothers gathers for the ﬁrst time in Laleh Park, Tehran. They face constant harassment from the authorities. A number of the Mothers are detained.

Female activists gather in the Students Park (Park-e Daneshjoo) in Tehran and are greeted by a ﬁerce opposition force. In June, 6,000 female activists gather in front of Tehran University.

Female students outpace male students in undergraduate university admissions in the National University Entrance Examinations.

1998 Inauguration of the ﬁrst woman’s police academy since the 1979 revolution. October 11

64 per cent of the students entering universities are female and the worsening economic situation forces millions of women to enter the workforce.

2003 October 9

The ﬁrst women’s journalist union since the 1979 revolution is formed.

1997 Despite the female vote for President Khatami reaching as high as 80 per cent in 1997, few changes occur in the situation for women.

1993 Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of then President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, is attacked by the hardliners for being outspoken, wearing blue jeans and riding bicycles. In a landslide victory she is elected in the 5th Majlis with the highest number of votes in Tehran.

2004 The Women’s Culture Centre opens the ﬁrst women’s library, Sedigheh Dolat- Abadi and Mehrangiz Kar receive the annual Human Rights First award.

International Women’s Day celebrations are held for the ﬁrst time since the revolution. Women also discuss issues of sexuality and criticize the patriarchal structure far more openly in their weblogs, which are considered the only uncensored media outlets in Iran.

2005

Up to half a million people protest in Tehran’s 7 Tir Square, many of them women. The Feminist Majority Foundation awarded the Global Women’s Rights Award to the One Million Signatures Campaign.

June 27

December

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad elected President of Iran

2009

June 17

For the ﬁrst time International Women’s Day is commemorated in the open in one of the main parks in Tehran, Laleh Park.

2006

Change for Equality (website of the One Million Signatures Campaign) is awarded the Netizen prize by Reporters Without Borders. Iranian authorities shut down the website the following day (World Day against CyberCensorship) for the 23rd time since its creation in 2006.

May 9

March 8

Raheleh Asgarizadeh and Nasim Khosravi are arrested for collecting signatures in Tehran for the One Million Signatures Campaign.

2007

2010 March 11

2002 Prominent activists from the One Million Signatures Campaign, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Parvin Ardalan, Sussan Tahmasebi & Esha Momeni are prohibited from leaving the country.

1980-1988 IRAN AND IRAQ WAR

1980 March 15

Azam Taleghani, Ateghe Sedighi, Maryam Behruzi and Ghoharosharye Dastqeib become the ﬁrst four women to enter the ﬁrst post-revolution parliament. Women militias are trained for homeland defence.

Shirin Ebadi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her focus on Human Rights.

Thousands of female political activists are arrested and many of them are executed in prisons along with men. Amnesty International ﬁles reports of pre-execution rapes by prison guards.

KEEPING

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A IR

N A R I N I T N E MEN’S MOVEM

O W E H T F O E N I TIMEL

1979 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN The Family Protection Act is abrogated and women are barred from becoming judges and from some other fields such as horticulture. The veil is made compulsory, first for governmental offices, and then for the entire country. Leftist demonstrations against the veil are met with violence. In the first Majlis, among 217 elected members, only three are women.

1925-1979 PAHLAVI DYNASTY

1978

1958

1936 Sattareh Farmanfarmanian creates the ﬁrst classes for the training of social workers and social services.

1956

The first females enter Tehran University. Amineh Pakravan becomes the first female lecturer and Dr. Fatemah Sayah the first woman to be appointed a full professor in 1938.

1935 Maryam Savoji writer and jurist poet is the ﬁrst woman to discuss legal issues on the radio.

1953

The Iranian government passes legislation allowing women to attend state universities.

1934 Shortly after the 1953 coup, the Higher Council of Women is formed and headed by Ashraf Pahlavi.

1952

Ruhangiz Samineijad becomes the ﬁrst female Iranian actress in a feature length production.

1931 The ﬁrst ofﬁcial Women’s Conference is held in Tehran and the age of marriage is raised to 15 for girls and 18 for boys.

Publication of Ebtehaj Mostahagh’s journal Hoghugh-e Zan (Journal of Women’s Rights).

The ﬁrst group of Iranian girls travel to Europe to pursue their education.

1951 1926

Banu Namus founds the ﬁrst girl’s school in Shiraz. An angry mob reacts by pouring hot ashes on her head and holding a torch to her skin.

33 per cent of university students are now female with two million in the workforce. 190,000 are professionals with university degrees. There are 333 women in the local councils, 22 in Majlis and two in the Senate.

Mehrangiz Dawlatshahi, the ﬁrst female Ambassador, forms human rights organisation, Rah Naw with Safeyeh Firouz. The two meet with the young Shah and demand electoral rights. Opposition by religious authorities ends the debate.

1975 Women gain the right of guardianship of their children after their husbands’ death.

1971 January 3

The ﬁrst women’s soccer match is held in Tehran.

1949 Yekatrina Saidkhanian is appointed as Iran’s ﬁrst female lawyer.

1969 June 4 sees the appointment of Shirin Ebadi, Manijeh Farzad, Meimanat Chubak, Adineh Banimehr, Zahra Khavaran, Azamush Malek, and Homayundokht Homayuni as Iran’s ﬁrst 7 female judges.

Dr Mehrangiz Manuchehrian publishes a paper entitled “Criticism of the Constitution of Iran from the viewpoint of Women’s Rights”.

1947 February 5

1967 The Family Protection Act is ratified. Gains are made with respect to divorce laws, as divorce has to be referred to family courts. Polygamy is limited and the first wife’s written consent is now required. Age of marriage for girls is set to 18 years. Farokhroo Parsa becomes the first woman minister in Iran.

Fatemeh Sayah and Simin Daneshvar, along with other prominent activists, found the party Hezb-e Zanan-e Iran (Women’s Party of Iran).

1940 Mehrangiz Afzal and Zia Javid are Iran’s first female graduates in the natural sciences. The first female Iranian pilot, Efat Tejaratchi, completes her first solo flight.

In Bahman, ﬁnally women are given the right to vote and to be elected. Fatwas by known ﬁgures including Ayatollah Khomeini declare the move as heretical; demonstrations follow but are quashed.

1961 The ﬁrst female lawyers union announces its existence in Tehran demanding the right to vote, the right to be voted into parliament and equal rights in all professions.

1923 January 31

The creation of the Jamiyate Nesvan-e (Patriotic Women’s Society).

1922 Sedigheh Dolatabadi becomes the ﬁrst Iranian woman to participate in the International Women’s Conference.

1919 Sedigheh Dolatabadi founds the ﬁrst Iranian women’s publication openly registered under a woman’s name, called Zaban-e Zanan (The Voice of Women).

Raziyeh Sha’bani, prominent activist, is arrested.

1946

1962

1785-1925 QAJAR DYNESTY

1910 Despite the fact that 97 per cent of Iranian women are illiterate and writing by women is seen as taboo, Dr. Kahali Jadid al-Islam Hamedani starts the ﬁrst Iranian Women’s publication, Danesh.

1904-1905

1936 Reza Shah, his wife and daughters attend the graduation ceremony at the Women’s Teacher Training College in Tehran. All women were advised to come unveiled. Unveiling is made compulsory and women are barred from wearing chador and scarf in public.

Women, particularly in Tehran and Tabriz, become active in the constitutional struggle, boycotting foreign goods, joining underground activities against foreign forces, organising street riots and selling jewellery to support constitutionalist forces.

Amini

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T S U O D M A D H G ALIEH A

ALIEH AGHDAM-DOUST

TEACHER AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST

Alieh Aghdam-Doust, 58, is a member of the Campaign for Equality. Alieh Aghdam-Doust was a teacher at the time of the Islamic Revolution and was later forced out of her job by the Ministry of Education. Alieh Aghdam-Doust, prisoner of conscience, has been serving a three-year prison sentence since January 2009 in Evin Prison, Tehran for having protested against unequal laws following the Islamic Revoluntion of 1979. She was convicted of having “acted against national security by participating in an illegal gathering” in January 2007. Her conviction relates to a peaceful demonstration calling for an end to discrimination against women in which she participated in June 2006. It was violently broken up by security forces and 70 people were arrested. Alieh Aghdam-Doust was placed in solitary conﬁnement in March 2010 after a speech she gave to other women prisoners on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2010. She was later brought to court without the presence of her lawyer, and charged with new offences relating to the speech. She has not yet been tried. In November 2010, she spent a week in solitary conﬁnement after protesting the transfer of women political prisoners to the “methadone ward”, where female drug addicts are held.

Objection is part of our civil life as humans and my presence in the women’s protest was part of how I chose to live my life.

KEEPING

: G N I T A E B T IRAN’S HEAR

ASIEH AMINI

JOURNALIST, POET AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST Asieh Amini is a journalist, poet, and women’s and human rights activist. For many years she has fought against the death penalty in Iran, speciﬁcally in relation to the executions of minors and the stoning of women. She is one of the founders of the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign, which has saved many from execution by stoning, and is a founding member and Director of the Iranian Women’s Association (Kanoon Zanan Iran). Asieh Amini now lives in exile in Norway, with her husband Javad Montazeri. Asieh Amini has published more than 60 articles, reports and interviews in the last two years in Farsi, English and Norwegian. These have concerned social issues in Iran such as human rights, women’s rights, juvenile execution and stoning. She has also presented on these issues at various international conferences. Asieh Amini is the editor of online magazines, Women in Iran and Koneshgaran and of newspapers Sobhe Emrooz Daily, Etemaad and Iran Javan Daily. She is also a reporter for Azad Daily and has published articles on Roozonline. In 2009, Human Rights Watch awarded Asieh Amini the Hellman/Hammett Award. According to the organisation, “she is credited with saving the lives of several juveniles and women on death row by publicising their cases, campaigning with the authorities, and persuading families of victims to forgo their right to retribution”. In March 2007, Asieh Amini was among 33 women arrested while protesting the trial of ﬁve women’s rights activists in Tehran. She was released a few days later and acquitted of the charges against her.

Laws do not reﬂect the wishes of a few hundred people who throw stones at others. Laws must protect the society as well as the safety of individuals. Laws must be in step with civilized norms of our times. Laws must lead societies away from violence and criminality.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A R I

KEEPING VI BAHAREH ALA BAHAREH ALAVI

JOURNALIST, BLOGGER, WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND KURDISH RIGHTS ACTIVIST Bahareh Alavi, human rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, was one of the youngest members of the women’s movement. She started her human rights and journalistic activities at age 16 and joined the One Million Signatures Campaign in 2007. On 26 April 2011, Bahareh Alavi died at the age of 20, as a result of a car crash. Bahareh Alavi joined the 2009 protests following the disputed presidential elections. She described them in detail in her blog. In the days that followed the protests, when many political and social activists were arrested, many of her friends were among them. Bahareh Alavi publicised their situation with the media. Bahareh Alavi wrote a regular weblog, The Daughter of the Sun, about limitations she experienced as an Iranian woman and the anger and sadness that she experienced about each execution. In April 2010, she wrote an article for the Human Rights House of Iran about the life of Farangis Khanum Davoudifar, mother of Kaveh Kermanshahi, Kurdish human rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign. Her last projects before Bahareh Alavi’s untimely death included an investigation into female genital mutilation and the translation of a book about the experience of being a lesbian in Iran. In an interview with the BBC, she spoke about women’s rights in marriage and equality for women in Iran.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A KEEPING IR T A Y A D E H H E R BAHA

BAHAREH HEDAYAT

STUDENT AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST Bahareh Hedayat, 30, is a student and women’s rights activist and a member of the Campaign for Equality. She is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence after her arrest on 31 December 2009, in the midst of the unrest following the disputed presidential elections. She spent 81 days in solitary confinement and endured a gruelling interrogation process before being transferred to Evin Prison. On 16 July 2011, she was given temporary leave to observe a religious holiday on US$700,000 bail. Bahareh Hedayat is a member of the Office of the Consolidation of Unity (OCU) and Chair of the OCU’s Women’s Committee, as well as a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign to stop discriminatory laws. As a result of her activism, Bahareh Hedayat had been arrested on numerous occasions and imprisoned several times prior to her arrest in December 2009.She was nominated for the Student Peace Prize in 2010. She is married to Amin Ahmadian, political activist and member of the Islamic Alumni Association. On 24 May 2011, Behareh Hedayat was allowed a halfhour meeting with her relatives in person. This was her first in-person visit with her mother and father for 13 months. Some of the charges Bahareh Hedayat are currently facing are in relation to a letter published on the occasion of Student Day, 7 December 2010. This letter was written with Majid Tavakoli, prominent student leader and political prisoner, and it praised the efforts of Iranian students abroad. The letter was published widely inside and outside of Iran and received a great degree of media attention.

We are worn out but have neither bent nor broken. We continue to stand erect, although with wounded and restless hearts. We bear witness to the efforts of dictators looting a fertile land nurtured by the selﬂess sacriﬁces of past and present generations.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A KEEPING IR I B A H A S H E L HA

HALEH SAHABI

POLITICAL AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST, RELIGIOUS SCHOLAR Haleh Sahabi, 54, was a political activist, women’s rights activist and religious scholar. She was a member of the Mothers for Peace group and campaigned for women’s rights. Haleh Sahabi was one of the few Iranian woman Koranic scholars. She spent good portion of her life studying Quran in search of equality for men and women in Islam. Her main concern was to prove that men and women were equal and to ﬁnd a way to convey the ﬁndings to the Religious-Nationalist public. Haleh Sahabi, an Amnesty International prisoner of consicence, was serving a two-year prison sentence imposed after she was arrested in relation to her peaceful participation in a demonstration protesting the inauguration of President Ahmadinejad in August 2009. She was released on bail in mid-August 2009, but was later sentenced to two years’ imprisonment after conviction of “propaganda against the system by repeated presence at illegal gatherings and disturbing public order.” Haleh Sahabi died, apparently after being struck by a member of the security forces, on the morning of 1 June 2011 during the funeral of her father, Ezzatollah Sahabi, a former parliamentarian and the leader of the Nationalist Religious Alliance. Amnesty International received an eyewitness account stating that a member or members of the security forces manhandled Haleh Sahabi and hit her after she refused to relinquish a photograph of her father she was holding. Haleh Sahabi’s own funeral, organised by security forces, was held at 10 pm on the same day as her death. No autopsy was performed beforehand. Several mourners were reportedly arrested during her funeral. In response to her death, 18 prisoners of conscience went on hunger strike.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A R KEEPING I B U O H G A Y I N A B JILA

JILA BANIYAGHOUB

JOURNALIST AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST Jila Baniyaghoub, 41, is a freelance reporter and editor-in-chief of the website Kanoon Zanan Irani (Iranian Women’s Center), a news site covering women’s issues. The site is under regular surveillance by the Iranian authorities who have tried to shut it down repeatedly. She is also a founding member of the One Million Signatures Campaign. Jila Baniyaghoub began her journalism career at the daily newspaper Hamshahri while still a journalism student at the University of Allameh Tabatabayi. She has worked for various newspapers since then, including Sarmayeh, and has been threatened or ﬁred many times for her reporting on government and social oppression. In 2001, Jila Baniyaghoub travelled throughout the Middle East. There, she wrote accounts of refugees and women she met, covering topics such as social and legal discrimination. She has recently published a book, Journalists in Iran, which documents the experiences of Iranian journalists, including some of her own experiences. At the time of printing she is writing a book Women in Unit 209 of Evin. In 2009, Jila Baniyaghoub won the Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation. In recent years, she has also won other international journalism awards including the International Freedom of Expression award from the Canadian Journalists for Free Expressionand the Best Weblog award from Reporters Without Borders. Jila Baniyaghoub has been imprisoned on 4 different occasions. She was arrested most recently in June 2009 while covering the post-election protests in Iran. Jila Baniyaghoub’s husband, journalist Bahman Ahmadi Amou’i, was also arrested at that time. She was released in August, but at the time of printing, her husband remains in prison.

Unlike you, I have not studied law, but I do know the law at the general level that any citizen should know, and I know that prosecutors are not there only to prosecute journalists or other citizens, but also to prosecute the government when it violates citizens’ rights.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A R KEEPING I I H A H S N A M R KAVEH KE

KAVEH KERMANSHAHI

JOURNALIST AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST Kaveh Kermanshahi, 27, journalist and human rights activist, began working in the area of civil society and human rights in 2005 when he became a member of the central council of the Zhiar Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), in Kermanshah. Three years later, the Iranian Interior Ministry dissolved the organisation. In 2006, he began working with the One Million Signatures Campaign. In 2007, Kaveh Kermanshahi became a member of the Central Council of the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan. He helped set up the Kermanshah branch of the Ofﬁce for the Consolidation of Unity in 2008 and became responsible for the Human Rights Committee. Kaveh Kermanshahi has a bachelor’s degree in law from Kermanshah University. Kaveh Kermanshahi writes the blog Zhiar which has been blocked many times in the past by the Iranian authorities. He has written reports for Kurdistan Human Rights Watch news agency, Radio Zamaneh, Roozonline, Change for Equality, and other Kurdish and Farsi websites. Kaveh Kermanshahi was arrested and detained in February 2010 by Iranian Security and Intelligence Services. He was held in solitary conﬁnement for four months and was subjected to harsh conditions and interrogation. In May 2010, he was released on bail without being formally charged. He was eventually sentenced to 4 years in prison, on appeal. However, Kaveh Kermanshahi decided against reporting to prison to serve his sentence. He now resides outside of Iran.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A KEEPING IR M A D A H G O M H E KHADIJ

KHADIJEH MOGHADDAM

WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST Khadijeh Moghaddam is an active member of the Campaign for Equality and Mothers for Peace. Launched in 2006, the Campaign for Equality, an Iranian women’s rights initiative composed of a network of women and men, is committed to ending discrimination against women in Iranian law. Mothers for Peace was launched in 2007 by a group of Iranian women to campaign against possible military intervention in Iran over its nuclear programme, and to seek “viable solutions” to the region’s instability. Khadijeh Moghaddam has been summoned to appear in court on a number of occasions due to her work as a women’s rights and environmental activist. She has also been arrested for participating in peaceful protests and banned from travelling abroad. In 2009, Khadijeh Moghaddam was charged with “disobeying police orders”, “disrupting public order”, “propaganda against the system” and in connection with a demonstration held by Mothers for Peace on 11 January 2009. In 2008, Khadijeh Moghaddam was arrested and interrogated in relation to gatherings in her home that she hosted for members of the Mother’s Committee of the Campaign and Mothers for Peace.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A KEEPING IR I M A R A K H E B MAHBOU

MAHBOUBEH KARAMI

JOURNALIST AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST Mahboubeh Karami, journalist and women’s rights activist, is a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign. She is also a former director of the Women’s Unit of the independent human rights organisation, Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI). She has written articles for the Campaign for Equality. Mahboubeh Karami, 42, was arrested in March 2010 and detained, without charge or trial, in solitary conﬁnement in Evin Prison, Tehran until 18 August 2010, at which time she was released on bail equivalent to US$500,000. She began serving a three-year prison sentence on 15 May 2011, imposed for her peaceful activities in support of greater rights for women. She was convicted of “membership of an illegal organization (HRAI)”, “gathering and colluding with intent to harm state security and for spreading propaganda against the system”. Mahboubeh Karami has health problems that her family and friends fear will worsen in prison. She was suffering from depression at the time of her arrest in March 2010, which became more severe while she was in detention. She is also said to suffer from insomnia and respiratory problems. She was in detention at the time of her mother’s death in 2009 and she was not allowed prison leave to attend the one year anniversary of her mother’s death. Prior to her arrest, she was the only carer for her aging father, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Mahboubeh Karami had been arrested four times before on similar charges. Each time, she was detained for several days before being released.

I do not regret the path I have taken, I believe in my cause wholeheartedly, and am willing to pay the price.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A R I G

KEEPIN

H E D A Z I L O H G S BOUBEH ABBA

MAH

MAHBOUBEH ABBASGHOLIDZADEH

JOURNALIST, FILMMAKER AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST Mahboubeh Abbasgholidzadeh was one of the founding members of the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign to abolish stoning in law and practice. She is an active member of the Iranian Women’s Charter movement. She was the director of the Centre for Training, which was formed to support the work of the growing NGO community in Iran. The organisation was closed down by the Revolutionary Court of Iran during her first arrest in 2004. She also headed the Association of Women Writers and Journalists and was the editor-in-chief of Farzaneh, a women’s periodical. In March 2007, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh was arrested along with other women activists during a peaceful demonstration in front of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. She was held in solitary confinement from 4 to 19 March. Throughout her detention, she was held in Unit 209 of the notorious Evin Prison, which is run by the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran. As a condition of her release on 19 March 2007, her bail was set at 250 million toman (or US$260,000). Her Centre for Training office was closed down and its bank account was frozen. On December 2009, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh was amongst those arrested in Iran while on their way to attend the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri, a senior cleric who criticised the Iranian government’s crackdown on demonstrators in the aftermath of the contested June 2009 presidential elections. She was released after 24 hours on the condition that she would remove her films critical of the regime from her website. She now lives in the USA.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A R KEEPING I I A J O H S H E R U O MANS

MANSOUREH SHOJAI

LIBRARIAN, JOURNALIST, TRANSLATOR AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST Mansoureh Shojai is an Iranian journalist, translator and women’s rights activist. She has been a founder of many signiﬁcant organisations in Iran including the Women’s Cultural Center, the Banoo Library, the Sedigheh Dolatabadi Library and the One Million Signatures Campaign. Most recently, Mansoureh Shojai was one of the founders of the Women’s Solidarity Committee against Social Violence and the Green Coalition of Women. She has had more than 200 articles published in various magazines, periodicals and sites. Mansoureh Shojai has worked as a librarian in the Iranian National Library for 22 years. Since 2000 she has been active in organising and founding local libraries in Tehran and other cities for women and children, with the help and cooperation of domestic or international organisations such as the United Nations. On December 27, 2009, Mansoureh Shojai was arrested and sent to prison. It was her third arrest since 2005. She was set free after one month on bail with her house as security. Mansoureh Shojai lives in Germany and has been supported by the Heinrich Boll foundation. Her research focuses on the relationship between the Iranian women’s rights movement and the green movement. In January 2011, she was awarded a scholarship by the German international PEN Association.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A KEEPING IR R A K Z I G N A R H ME

MEHRANGIZ KAR

HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER, JOURNALIST AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST Mehrangiz Kar, 67, is a journalist, women’s rights activist and human rights lawyer. Despite the restrictions on women lawyers, she was active as a public defender in Iran’s civil and criminal courts and published regularly in several inﬂuential and independent Iranian journals such as Zanan. Mehrangiz Kar has published 14 books and over 100 articles in newspapers and journals in Iran. Her books cover topics such as women’s rights, law and politics in Iran. Mehrangiz Kar was named a ‘Human Rights Hero’ by Amnesty International in 2001. She is the widow of Siamak Pourzand, journalist and political dissident, who died on 29 April 2011, after a long period of torture and imprisonment. Mehrangiz Kar was arrested and detained in April 2000 due to her participation at a social and cultural conference in Berlin. Her statements did not incite violence but the Iranian judiciary considered her attendance to be “harmful to national security”. In December 2000, she was tried and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for statements that she made at the conference. She was released on bail, to undergo treatment for breast cancer in the US, prior to the appeal court hearing in November 2001. In February 2001 she left Iran for medical treatment but has not returned since – she would face immediate imprisonment if she were to return. Mehrangiz Kar was a 2005/2006 Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University and was based at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 2004, she received a human rights award from Human Rights First. She was also a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, the American University in Washington DC, the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and Columbia University.

Sometimes when I’m speaking about women’s rights, I feel deeply disgusted, because I have to give a long list of violations of women’s rights, for which I do not have any solutions.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A R KEEPING I H E D U O T O S NASRIN

NASRIN SOTOUDEH HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER

Nasrin Sotoudeh, human rights lawyer, is a member of the Human Rights Defenders Organization, the One Million Signatures Campaign and the Children’s Rights Society. She was legal counsel to political prisoners who were arrested and imprisoned after the protests disputing the presidential elections in 2009. She has also represented victims of child abuse and juvenile offenders facing the death penalty. Her former clients include Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi. Nasrin Sotoudeh, 47, has a degree in International Law from Shahid Beheshti University. Since 1991, she has given interviews and written articles for media outlets including the Jamee, Toos, and Sobh e Emorooz newspapers and Aban magazine, among others. She is married with two young children. Nasrin Sotoudeh has won several international awards for her human rights work including the 2008 International Human Rights Committee of Italy award, the 2010 Golden Poppy Award bestowed by the city of Florence, Italy and the 2011 PEN/ Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Arrested on 4 September 2010, Nasrin Sotoudeh has spent much of her time since then in solitary conﬁnement in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Her health has been weakened by three hunger strikes in protest at her arrest and at the conditions of her detention. Her hunger strikes included three days in which she drank no water (a “dry” hunger strike). On 9 January 2011, Nasrin Sotoudeh was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for “acting against national security’’ and “propaganda against the system”. She is also banned from practicing law and forbidden from leaving Iran for 20 years.

I thank you for demonstrating to the world the massive gap between the decisions taken by the ruling government and the aspirations of an entire nation.

KEEPING

: G N I T A E B T IRAN’S HEAR

SHADI SADR

LAWYER, JOURNALIST AND CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENDER Shadi Sadr is an Iranian journalist, lawyer and civil rights defender. She founded the respected website Zanan-e Iran (Women in Iran), the ﬁrst website to focus solely on women’s rights activists. She has represented activists and journalists, including several women sentenced to execution, whose convictions were subsequently overturned. Shadi Sadr was the director of Raahi, a legal advice centre for women, until its closure in 2007. The centre provided free legal advice to marginalized women and women in need of legal representation. In 2006 she helped establish the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign, which aims to bring about the end of stoning as punishment in Iran. In 2007 Shadi Sadr was arrested for defending women who were on trial for organising a protest against the legal discrimination that women face in Iran. She was held for questioning on her work with the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign. Prior to this she had been harassed by the Ministry of Intelligence and summoned for interrogation many times. While she was in custody in 2007 the authorities shut down the Raahi Legal Centre. She was released on bail but during the postelection unrest in July 2009, two plain-clothed policemen arrested her as she walked to Friday prayers. She was released after 11 days due to an international outcry and ﬂed to Germany. In 2009, Shadi Sadr was awarded the Lech Walesa prize for her work in promoting human rights, freedom of expression and democracy in Iran. She was also awarded the Human Rights Defenders Tulip 2009 from the Dutch government.

We have to work to eradicate stoning wherever it happens in the world: it is a brutal and inhuman act… through which the authorities are attempting to control society [and stop] people enjoying their right to a private life.

KEEPING

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A R I

I B E S A M H A T N A SUSS

SUSSAN TAHMASEBI

WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND CIVIL SOCIETY ACTIVIST Sussan Tahmasebi, women’s rights and civil society activist, is a founding member of the Campaign for Equality. She has worked in several NGOs in Iran at both a national and grassroots level. Sussan Tahmasebi was awarded Human Rights Watch’s Alison Des Forges Award in 2010 for her dedication to making women’s rights a national priority in Iran. Sussan Tahmasebi has played a key role in promoting collaboration between Iranian NGOs and their counterparts internationally. She cofounded the Iran Civil Society Training and Research Centre but security forces shut it down in March 2007. She is currently an editor of the English section of Change for Equality, the One Million Signatures Campaign’s website. In June 2006 Tahmasebi was arrested and charged with spreading propaganda against the state and with being a threat to national security. She was tried on 4 March 2007 and was sentenced to two years in prison, of which 18 months were suspended and she was freed on bail pending an appeal. On the day of her trial, women’s rights activists held a protest outside the Revolutionary Courts. As Tahmasebi left the courthouse she was arrested along with 32 other protesters and was charged with being a threat to national security, collusion and disobeying orders from police. Though she was later acquitted of these charges she continues to face harassment from security forces. Sussan Tahmasebi now lives in the USA.

Iranian women are extremely strong. They have made incredible gains and have been fighting for their legal and social rights for over 100 years. They are not victims and they are not out there to be rescued. They have a difficult fight and presently the odds are stacked against them.

KEEPING

: G N I T A E B T IRAN’S HEAR

N A L A D R A N I PARV

PARVIN ARDALAN

JOURNALIST, AUTHOR AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST Parvin Ardalan, 37, is a journalist and author. She previously worked for women’s publications such as Zanestan and The Feminist Tribune of Iran before Iranian authorities shut down both online magazines in 2007. Parvin Ardalan was awarded the Olof Palme Prize in 2007, for her achievements and activism aimed at achieving equal rights for women in Iran. In March 2008, Parvin Ardalan was banned from travelling to Sweden where she was due to collect the Olof Palme Human Rights Award. Her passport was conﬁscated for 72 hours to stop her from travelling. Her sister accepted the award in her place. Parvin Ardalan was a member of the Women’s Cultural Centre, the ﬁrst-ever Iranian nongovernmental organization to advocate women’s rights. It was closed down by Iranian authorities in 2007, along with Zanestan. She was also one of the founding members of the One Million Signatures Campaign. Parvin Ardalan was sentenced in September 2008 to six months in jail for her writings for the websites Change for Equality and Zanestan. She was previously arrested and charged for her part in organising a peaceful demonstration calling for greater rights for women in June 2006. She now lives in Sweden.

I dedicate this award to all the women of my country, to my mother, to the mothers of prisoners of conscience, and to all the other mothers of my land, who while enduring, have taught us how to resist discrimination, so that we too can pass on these teachings to our children and to future generations.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A R I G

KEEPIN

I D A B E N I R I SH

SHIRIN EBADI

HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER AND NOBEL LAUREATE Shirin Ebadi J.D. was awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote human rights, and in particular the rights of women, children and political prisoners in Iran. She was the first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Shirin Ebadi was one of the first female judges in Iran. She served as president of the city court of Tehran from 1975 to 1979 and was the first Iranian woman to achieve Chief Justice status. She, along with other women judges, was dismissed from that position after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. She was made a clerk to the court she had once presided over, until she petitioned for early retirement. After obtaining her lawyer’s license in 1992, Shirin Ebadi set up private practice. As a lawyer, Shirin Ebadi has taken on many controversial cases defending political dissidents and as a result has been arrested on numerous occasions. She has established many nongovernmental organisations in Iran, including the One Million Signatures Campaign, and she is a cofounder of the Centre for Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), a Tehran based NGO that was forcibly closed down in December 2008 by the Iranian authorities. As a university professor, Shirin Ebadi offers human rights training courses. She has published over 70 articles and 13 books dedicated to various aspects of human rights. In 2004, she was named by Forbes Magazine as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world. Shirin Ebadi resides outside Iran and has been advised by friends and colleagues to remain in exile on grounds that she may well be arrested on her return.

As long as women are denied human rights, anywhere in the world, there can be no justice and no peace.

: G N I T A E B T R A E H S ’ N A R I G

KEEPIN

I R A H A R A Z A SHIVA N

SHIVA NAZAR AHARI

JOURNALIST, BLOGGER AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST Shiva Nazar Ahari, 27, is a journalist, blogger and founding member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR). The CHRR was founded in 2006 and campaigns against a wide range of human rights violations, including those affecting women, children, prisoners and workers. She was also a founding member of the Society of Tara Women, a civil organisation devoted to the lawful, non-violent defence of the rights of women. Shiva Nazar Ahari graduated from Islamic Azad University with a degree in civil engineering. When she tried to sign up for the national graduate school entrance examination she was reportedly prevented from doing so. She was effectively banned from continuing her education due to her work as a human rights activist. Shiva Nazar Ahari was arrested on 20 December 2009 while on her way to the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, a senior cleric critical of the authorities. On 9 January 2011, an appeal judgment sentenced her to four years in prison, exile to a prison in Karaj and 74 lashings for “enmity against God” and “propaganda against the system”. Shiva Nazar Ahari had previously been arrested and detained on a number of occasions. She spent some time in a “cagelike” solitary conﬁnement cell where she could not move her arms or legs. She had limited access to her family, and no access to her lawyers. In March 2011, Shiva Nazar Ahari was awarded the Theodor Haecker prize for her courageous internet reporting on human rights violations. The award aims to recognize individuals or groups who strive to achieve peace and democracy. At the time of printing Shiva Nazar Ahari remains free on bail, awaiting her prison re-call. Nazar-Ahari is awaiting a court order to serve out her four-year prison term.

When your heart trembles for another prisoner, a woman, a child laborer, that is when you become the accused. When you ﬁnd faith in people and believe in humanity and nothing else, that is when you commit your ﬁrst crime.

KEEPING

: G N I T A E B T IRAN’S HEAR

I N A Z R A H E R ZOH

ZOHREH ARZANI

FAMILY LAWYER AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST Zohreh Arzani is a family lawyer and human rights activist. She has represented many human rights and women’s rights activists such as Nahid Jafari, Somayeh Rashidi and Sussan Tahmasebi. Zohreh Arzani constantly strives for gender equality and protests against discriminatory laws such as those pertaining to women’s right to work, their place of residence and permission to leave the country. She also campaigns for the right to divorce and on raising the minimum age for marriage, which is currently 13 for girls unless court approval for a younger age is obtained. Zohreh Arzani outlines the various international resolutions and laws that could be used to combat violence against women as well as the negative impact of discriminatory laws, which reinforce violence, on the lives of women. Arzani claims, “if the laws were more supportive, we would have a better chance of combating and eliminating violence against women in Iran”. As a member of the Campaign for Equality and the training committee, Zohreh Arzani has led training for Campaign for Equality workshops on family protection and civil rights. In the past, Zohreh Arzani has been summoned by the Iranian judiciary and interrogated in relation to her work. Zohreh Arzani has witnessed ﬁrst-hand the justice system in Iran. Meetings with the prosecutors and clients have proven impossible due to false information on cases, provided by the Revolutionary Court, in order to delay progress. Many lawyers including Zohreh Arzani have protested these unjust tactics. Zohreh Arzani continues to ﬁght for human rights in Iran.