Drop Charges Against Iranian Women’s Rights Activists

Alert Issued: December 4, 2007

UPDATE: On January 2, 2008, Jelveh Javaheri and Maryam Hosseinkhah were freed on bail after Iranian authorities reduced the amount of demanded for their release.

Since the end of October, five members of the Iranian women’s rights movement known as the One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality have been arrested and criminally charged for carrying out their peaceful human rights activities. 

Maryam Hosseinkhah and Jelveh Javaheri have both been charged with “inciting of public opinion, propaganda against the state, and publication of false information” for their writings on the website of the One Million Signatures Campaign, Change for Equality, and are being held in Evin Prison in Tehran.

Hana Abdi and Ronak Safarzadeh, both members of the campaign for women’s equality in the province of Kordestan, have been detained for several weeks.  Ms. Abdi’s whereabouts are unknown, and Ms. Safarzadeh has been allowed only limited contact with her family and no access to her lawyer.

On November 4, 2007, the Tehran Court of Appeal sentenced Delaram Ali, another member of the campaign, to two years and six months imprisonment for “participation in an illegal gathering, propaganda against the system, and disturbing public order” after she  participated in a peaceful rally in Tehran.  An order to stay the sentence was issued, but it has expired, and the sentence could be implemented at any time.

Please urge the Iranian authorities to drop the charges against these peaceful activists and to immediately release those who are detained.

Tell Me More

In the fall of 2006, women’s rights groups in Iran launched the One Million Signatures for Equality campaign with the aim of gathering one million signatures demanding the repeal of Iranian laws that are discriminatory towards women.  This campaign was born out of a peaceful rally of hundreds of Iranians in Tehran on June 12, 2006, which was violently broken up by police. 

Delaram Ali is one of several activists who have been criminally charged for participating in the June 2006 rally (see Human Rights First alert here).  Ms. Ali, a 24-year-old sociology student and active member of the campaign, was sentenced in July 2007 to two years and ten months in prison, as well as 10 lashes.  On November 4, 2007, she was told that her appeals against conviction had been exhausted and that she should report to prison for the sentence to be carried out.   After seven leading human rights organizations around the world made a statement condemning the harsh sentence, the sentence was stayed; as of last week, however, the stay has expired and the sentence could be implemented at any time.

Hana Abdi, a member of the women’s rights NGO Azar Mehr and an active member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, was arrested by seven security officers in her grandfather’s home in Sanandaj, Kordestan on November 4, 2007.  The arresting officers confiscated her computer and educational pamphlets related to the campaign. To date, Ms. Abdi has been held incommunicado, and her family does not know her whereabouts.  Her colleague, Ronak Safarzadeh, was arrested on October 9, 2007, and has since been detained at the local office of the Ministry of Information and Security in Sanandaj, with limited contact with her family and no access to her lawyers.

Jelveh Javaheri was arrested on December 1, 2007, after being summoned for interrogation at the security branch of the Revolutionary Courts in Tehran.  A sociology student and journalist, Ms. Javaheri has published articles about the women’s rights campaign in many media outlets.  For her writing, she was charged with inciting public opinion, propaganda against the state, and publication of false information, and is currently being held in Evin Prison’s women’s ward.  Ms. Javaheri was previously arrested in March 2007 for peacefully protesting outside the trial of five other activists,.  She has a court appearance relating to that arrest scheduled for December 18.

Maryam Hosseinkhah, like Ms. Javaheri, is a journalist who writes about women’s issues and the campaign for equality.  On November 18, 2007, she was summoned for interrogation at the Revolutionary Court and was subsequently charged with “inciting public opinion, propaganda, and publication of false information.”  Her bail was set at one million Tomans (approximately US $110,000), despite the minor nature of the charges and her low income.  The exorbitantly high bail appears to be a strategy to force Ms. Hosseinkhah to go to jail.  She is currently held in Evin Prison’s women’s ward.

The charges against these activists are part of the mounting repression of the women’s rights movement by the Iranian authorities.  Iran should respect the provisions of international human rights treaties to which it is a State Party, and the 1998 U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, particularly the right to freedom of expression, association, and information, and should drop the charges against these peaceful activists and release those who the authorities have detained.

Sample Letter

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei,
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: webmaster@wilayah.org 

His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Head of the Judiciary
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: irjpr@iranjudiciary.org 

His Excellency Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
E-mail: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir


Your Excellency: 

I am writing to express my concern about  the criminal charges facing five young women’s rights activists. 

Delaram Ali, a 24-year-old sociology student, was sentenced in July 2007 to two years and ten months in prison, as well as  to receive 10 lashes.  On November 4, 2007, she was told that appeals against her conviction had been exhausted and that she should report to prison for the sentence to be carried out.   Although the sentence was stayed, as of last week the stay has expired and the sentence could be implemented at any time. 

Hana Abdi, a member of the women’s rights NGO Azar Mehr, was arrested by seven security officers in her grandfather’s home in Sanandaj, Kordestan on November 4, 2007.  The arresting officers confiscated her computer and educational pamphlets related to the campaign. To date, Ms. Abdi has been held incommunicado, and her family does not know her whereabouts.  Her colleague, Ronak Safarzadeh, was arrested on October 9, 2007, and has since been detained at the local office of the Ministry of Information and Security in Sanandaj, with limited contact with her family and no access to her lawyers. 

Jelveh Javaheri was arrested on December 1, 2007, after being summoned for interrogation at the security branch of the Revolutionary Courts in Tehran.  A sociology student and journalist, Ms. Javaheri has published articles about the women’s rights campaign in many media outlets.  For her writing, she was charged with” inciting public opinion, propaganda against the state, and publication of false information,” and is currently being held in Evin Prison’s women’s ward.  Ms. Javaheri was previously arrested in March 2007 for peacefully protesting outside the trial of five other activists.  She has a court appearance relating to that arrest scheduled for December 18. 

Maryam Hosseinkhah is a journalist who writes about women’s issues and the campaign for equality.  On November 18, 2007, she was summoned for interrogation at the Revolutionary Court and was subsequently charged with” inciting public opinion, propaganda, and publication of false information.”  Her bail was set at one million Tomans (approximately US $110,000), despite the minor nature of the charges and her low income.  The exorbitantly high bail appears to be a strategy to force Ms. Hossienkhah to go to jail.  She is currently held in Evin Prison’s women’s ward.

Women human rights defenders in Iran should be allowed to assemble peacefully and to advocate for their basic rights.  The rights upheld in the 1998 Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which was endorsed by all U.N. member states, as well as in the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, which is binding upon the government of Iran, include freedom of assembly and expression. Therefore, these arrests and convictions of women’s rights activists are violations of Iran’s obligations under international law.

I ask the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to drop the charges against Ms. Ali, Ms. Abdi, Ms. Safarzadeh, Ms. Javaheri, and Ms. Hosseinkhah.  The government of Iran should comply with  its obligations to protect citizens exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of assembly and expression.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.