Skier Marjan Kalhor, 21, is the first woman to represent Iran in the Winter Olympics. She was Iran’s flag bearer at the opening ceremonies in Vancouver last week. There are three other athletes in the Iranian delegation. Kalhor is competing in the giant slalom and Alpine slalom events. She told Ennahar Online that “skiing is […]
A group of Iranian feminists and activists are asking women’s rights groups and feminists worldwide for support in demanding “an end to state-led violence and repression” and “immediate release of all political detainees in Iran.” Thus far, more than 40 women’s rights groups from 9 countries are supporting partners. Under the name Gender Equality for […]
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement yesterday urging the release of several dozen Iranian women activists who have been imprisoned since the weekend. The women are members of a group called Mourning Mothers, which was formed after the widely publicized death of Neda Agha-Soltan last summer. Clinton said, “The United States urges the […]
At least 33 Iranian women activists were arrested yesterday during a peaceful protest in Tehran. The women are members of a group called Mourning Mothers, which was formed after the widely publicized death of Neda Agha-Soltan last summer. Members of the group are mothers of protestors who have been killed, detained, or are missing. According […]
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi’s sister, a professor in dentistry, Noushin Ebadi, Mansoureh Shojaee, a founder of the One Million Signatures campaign for women’s equality in Iran, and Morteza Kazemian, a journalist, were arrested the evening of December 29 by Ministry of Intelligence agents. Ebadi, who is out of the country, released a statement […]
Somayeh Rashidi, an Iranian women’s rights activist with the One Million Signatures Campaign, was targeted this morning with a search of her home and a summons to court. She told Change for Equality, that she “asked the security officials to provide me with identification, but they refused, claiming instead that [she] will find out in […]
The head of Iran’s state television, Ezatollah Zarghami, said Wednesday that state-sponsored television programs will prohibit women who appear on air from using make-up. Zarghami also said that programs will ban “repulsive jokes” between women and men, and that it is “preferable” that women guests appear on shows hosted by other women, according to Agence […]
The Iranian Parliament approved President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s nominee for Health Minister,Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, yesterday. Dastjerdi is the country’s first woman to be appointed to the cabinet since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979. The nominations of two other women, Fatemeh Ajorlou for the welfare and social security minister and Susan Keshavarz for the education minister position […]
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced yesterday that he will appoint at least three women to his cabinet. According to Agence France Presse, Fatemeh Ajorlou will be appointed as social welfare minister, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi as health minister, and a third currently unidentified woman will be appointed to a third minister position. If approved, these appointees […]
Iranian opposition leader Mahdi Karroubi announced Sunday that he has received reports of jailers raping prisoners during the government crackdown on protesters after June’s disputed presidential election. Karroubi, a reformist candidate defeated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the election, has stated that former senior officials notified him of the abuses, reports the Associated Press. In […]
Shirin Ebadi, one of Iran’s leading human rights defenders, is in London on Amnesty International’s invitation. Her trip to the UK is part of international efforts to educate the world about the human rights abuses in Iran and support Amnesty’s defense of the Defenders of Human Rights Center. Ebadi opened the center in 2001 and […]
Iranian women’s rights activist, lawyer, and journalist Shadi Sadr was released from prison yesterday, eleven days after she was beaten and arrested while walking to a prayer service in Tehran. Her lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, announced that Sadr was released on bail for approximately 50,000 US dollars, reports Iran Human Rights. Sadr was one of 140 […]
The organization United for Iran, a coalition of individuals and human rights groups, has planned a Global Day of Action on July 25 to highlight international support for the people of Iran amid the nation’s continuing political unrest. Rallies featuring speakers, marches and performances will take place in over 80 cities around the world this […]
Iranian women’s rights activist, lawyer and journalist Shadi Sadr was beaten and arrested by plainclothes police officers last week as the government continues to crack down on dissidents. Sadr was walking with friends to Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s Friday sermon when several men approached and seized her without displaying a warrant, according to the […]
Iranian Nobel laureate and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi met with European Union Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering on Wednesday and urged him to respond to the post-election violence that continues in Iran. Ebadi, who earlier called for the Iranian government to hold new elections and pay reparations for protester casualties, is asking the EU and […]
As protests continue over Iran’s presidential election results, women are playing a major role in the public uprising. Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum argues that the large scale of demonstrations is due in part to years of organizing by women’s rights groups. Though many pundits are crediting the election of Barack Obama and the use […]
Iranian human rights leader Shirin Ebadi is calling for the Iranian government to void the presidential election results and hold a new vote overseen by international watchdogs. In a article, Ebadi argues that the government should release individuals who were arrested for objecting to the election results, cease police violence towards protesters, pay compensation to […]
Women’s rights have emerged as an important issue in Iran’s presidential race to be held Friday. Women make up half of the Iranian electorate and candidates have been courting their votes. While incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has the support of some women, many are excited by the campaign of his strongest challenger, reformist Mir Hossein […]
Iranian journalist Jila Baniyaghoob will receive this year’s International Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalism Award for her reporting on political and social oppression and her support of women’s rights and freedom of the press in Iran. Baniyaghoob currently works as a freelance reporter and editor-in-chief of the website Kanoon Zanan Irani (Focus on Iranian […]
Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who was awaiting an appeal of a baseless espionage conviction, was released from prison today. According to the Washington Post, Iranian authorities have reduced Saberi’s sentence from 8 years to a 2-year suspended sentence. This means that if she commits a crime in the next 5 years, the 2-year sentence […]
