Iran's Rulers Target Last Vestiges of Reform

(New York, November 10, 2004) — With a series of arrests over the past two weeks the ruling clerical oligarchy in Iran is positioning to extinguish the final traces of a broad based movement for political reform. The crackdown targets activists from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and web-loggers who have called for long-awaited democratic change.

The arrest of women’s rights and NGO leader Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh on November 1, 2004, is indicative of the broad scope of the government’s clampdown . Recently, as other avenues for activism and free expression were closed by the authorities, large numbers of young people, including many women, became involved in officially recognized NGOs active in fields like women’s rights. Focusing on private sphere issues like child custody, inheritance, domestic violence and divorce, these activists found space in which they could organize without confronting the repressive force of the state head on, until now.

“By targeting leaders like Dr. Abbasgholizadeh the authorities are erasing divisions between secular and religious Iranian reform activists, and demonstrating that they will not permit any dissent,” commented Neil Hicks, Director of International Programs of Human Rights First, “this can only have destructive consequence for Iranian society and for human rights conditions in the country.”

The place of women in society has always been a political battleground in the Islamic Republic. By championing traditional patriarchal values and enforcing a strict dress code on women the clerical leadership has been able to mobilize popular support in Iran. The activities of NGOs that have focused on educating women about their rights, and have carefully separated traditional cultural values that repress women from their interpretation of the requirements of Islam, have challenged this support base for the regime, hence the clampdown.

Reformists in Iran have been the target of mounting repression for the past five years. The independent print media and the parliament have been silenced by supporters of the ruling faction. As reformist president Mohamed Khatami nears the end of his second and final term; he has been left isolated and impotent despite winning two landslide elections in 1997 and 2001. Hard-line elements in the judiciary, who have been the primary agents of repression, have now moved against NGO and Internet activists. The Web had emerged as a vehicle for free expression beyond the reach of the authorities, but this is now being challenged.

At its 2004 Annual Human Rights Award Dinner in October, Human Rights First honored pioneering Iranian women’s rights activist Mehrangiz Kar, who dedicated her award for those, like Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, struggling for basic rights and freedom in Iran. Human Rights First is calling for Dr. Abbasgholizadeh’s immediate release from prison and for the release of all non-violent government critics in Iran.

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