US based Human Rights Watch has demanded Iran drop charges against two Iranian feminist activists who protested for women’s rights. The group urged the government to immediately release Jelveh Javahari and Maryam Hosseinkhak, who were attempting to collect one million online signatures in support of other persecuted women’s activists, Reuters reports. Both women have been charged with disturbing the public opinion, among other individual charges.
“There seems to be no end in sight to the Iranian government’s persecution of women’s rights,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “They are bringing new charges against women faster than they can try them.”
Iran has recently been accused by western governments and human rights groups of taking a harder stance against dissent within the country in general, according to Reuters.
