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 Urge Iranian Authorities to Release Women Human Rights Defenders (02/02/09)   In English) ( In Farsi) (11/04/08) For more information, please contact Elizabeth Jordan, Tel: 212 845 5298 |
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Alert Issued: September 8, 2008
UPDATE: Iranian authorities released Solmaz Igdar after 13 days of detention, after her family posted bail in the amount of approximately $100,000. Igdar reports that she was interrogated for hours regarding her activism, particularly in the field of women’s rights. Given that Igdar’s family had to post bail for her release, Igdar will most likely be summoned to court to face charges in connection with her arrest. On August 29, in yet another example of the Iranian government's continuing campaign of repression against women rights activists, security forces arrested Solmaz Igdar. The activist and journalist is currently detained in Evin Prison. Igdar, a regular contributor to the Association for Iranian Women website, was attending a commemoration ceremony at Khavaran. The cemetery, situated southeast of Tehran, is said to be a mass grave containing the bodies of thousands of political prisoners executed by the Iranian authorities in 1988. Security and police forces disrupted the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the executions, arresting at least 17 participants. Though most of those arrested have been released, Solmaz Igdar is among those who remain imprisoned. Four days later, four other activists who have written for websites dedicated to women's rights issues were convicted of acting against national security and sentenced to six-month prison terms. Please call on the Iranian authorities to release Igdar and other detainees, and to halt their prosecution and repression of other women's rights activists. Background Solmaz Igdar is a student, a child rights advocate, and regular contributor to the website of Kanoon-e Zanan-e Irani -- the Association for Iranian Women (www.irwomen.com). She was arrested on August 29, 2008, while attending a ceremony in Khavaran to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Iranian regime's mass execution of political prisoners. Security forces disrupted the ceremony and arrested some of those in attendance. Igdar's family learned of her arrest that evening when the authorities permitted her to make a brief phone, during which she informed them that she was being transferred to Evin Prison. Her family has been unable to obtain any other information or to visit her in prison. In addition to Igdar, two other activists, Jafar Eghdami and Ali Amir-Gholi are also reportedly detained. The ceremony at Khavaran, a cemetery situated to the South East of Tehran, was to mark the 20th anniversary of the Iranian regime's systematic execution of thousands of political prisoners. Estimates of the number executed vary, ranging from 8,000 to 30,000 prisoners. The Iranian regime has never admitted to the full scale of the execution and has tried to keep the killings secret. In addition, four other women's rights activists who have contributed articles to women's rights websites were sentenced to six-month prison terms for "acting against national security," under Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code. The four women are: Parvin Ardalan, Maryam Hosseinkhah, Jelveh Jahaveri, and Nahid Keshavarz. The conviction is on the basis of articles the women contributed to the websites Change for Equality (the website of the One Million Signatures Campaign) and Zanestan. Ardalan is a well-known activist who was awarded the Olaf Palme Prize for Human Rights, but was prevented from traveling to Stockholm to receive it. Javaheri spent 32 days in Evin prison after being summoned and interrogated at the security branch of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran on December 1, 2007. She had previously been arrested in March 2007 for peacefully protesting outside the courtroom where five other women's rights defenders were on trial. Keshavarz was also among the 33 women arrested for protesting outside the courtroom, and she was also arrested on April 2, 2007 while collecting signatures on behalf of the One Million Signatures Campaign. Following that arrest she spent 13 days in prison before being released on bail. Hosseinkhah is a journalist who had been summoned for interrogation on November 18, 2007 and spent 45 days in Evin prison. Sample Letter Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei CC. His Excellency Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President His Excellency Mohammad Khazaee Your Excellency: I am writing to express my concern about the repression of women's rights activists in Iran. I am specifically writing about the case of Ms. Solmaz Igdar, a civil society activist and writer who was arrested on August 29, 2008 while attending the 20th anniversary commemoration ceremony of the mass execution of political prisoners. The ceremony, a peaceful gathering organized by the families of the prisoners, was disrupted by a large number of security forces. Ms. Igdar was not the only person arrested that day, but is one of several activists that continue to be detained. Two other activists reportedly in detention are Jafar Eghdami and Ali Amir-Gholi. I would like to convey my deep concern about this matter and urge that Ms. Igdar and all other persons who were doing nothing more than exercising their right to peaceful assembly be released from prison. The rights to peaceful assembly and free expression are enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was endorsed by all U.N. member states, as well as the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory and which is binding on the Iranian government. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. |
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Protest Iranian Government's Repression of Feminist Writers
