Delara Darabi, a 23-year-old Iranian woman convicted of a murder that occurred when she was 17, was unexpectedly hanged last Friday at Rasht Central Prison. Darabi called her parents early Friday saying that she could see a hangman’s noose from her cell and pleaded for them to save her. According to the BBC, a prison […]
Jinus Sobhani, an employee of women’s rights activist Shirin Ebadi, was released last week from prison in Iran after being held in solitary confinement for nearly two months. She had been denied the right to speak with attorneys or her family while confined and was finally released on €60,000 bail. Sobhani worked as a secretary […]
Two Iranian women were punished by flogging last week for their participation in May Day celebrations last year. The women, Sussan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi, are two of four labor activists convicted and sentenced as a result of the celebration. Similar sentences were carried out last year in relation to workers who had celebrated May […]
Two Iranian women have been sentenced to death in the past week, one by stoning. According to a Women’s Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran (WFAFI) press release in Iran 14 women currently face execution by stoning in Iran, a punishment faced only by those accused of adultery. According to Agence France Presse, Afsaneh R. and […]
Esha Momeni, a feminist activist, was released from Evin prison in Iran Monday where she had been held since October 15. She was originally arrested on supposed traffic violation charges while working for the One Million Signatures Campaign, part of the Change for Equality project, which collects signatures in support of Iranian women’s rights. According […]
Esha Momeni was arrested in Tehran last week for reportedly conducting unauthorized video interviews with Iranian women activists. According to Feministing.com, Momeni, a Cal State Northridge master’s student who is a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign is currently detained at Evin prison. The campaign was initiated by Iranian women’s rights activists who seek […]
Four Iranian women’s rights activists have been sentenced to six months in jail for “spreading propaganda” against Islam. Specifically at issue is their work as part of the Million Signatures Campaign as well as articles they posted online, according to Agence France-Presse. The Million Signatures Campaign is a petition drive that seeks to end discriminatory […]
Iran’s state media announced Wednesday that Iran has suspended the use of stoning as a way to carry out the death penalty. According to AFP, Iran’s judiciary drafted legislation that would end stoning as a death penalty, the current Islamic punishment in Iran for adulterers. Amnesty International reports in their call to end stoning in […]
An Iranian women’s rights activist was sentenced to a five year prison term last week, the maximum penalty for her so-called crime. Hana Abdi was convicted of “gathering and colluding to commit a crime against national security,” according to Payvand Iran News. Ronak Safarzadeh, another young activist who was working with Abdi, has been charged […]
A major Iranian state-owned company gave its employees an ultimatum: either get married by September, or lose their jobs. According to AFP, the reformist Iranian newspaper Etemad named Pars Special Economic Energy Zone, a petrochemical and gas firm, as the company. BBC reports that the marriage directive is in response to the increasing number of […]
Nine Iranian women activists were arrested last week on Iran’s national day of solidarity with women. The activists were attempting to take part in a peaceful demonstration the Rahe Abrisham Gallery last week, the Womens Learning Partnership (WLP) reports. According to Amnesty International, the activists were part of a group called the Campaign for Equality, […]
Iran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced Amir Yaghoub-Ali, a 22 year old student, to a one year prison term this week. Ali was convicted for petitioning for the One Million Signatures Campaign for women’s rights, according to the Associated Press. The One Million Signatures Campaign is part of Change for Equality’s program for revising Iranian law to […]
Khadijeh Maghaddam, an activist working to end discrimination against women in Iranian law, was arrested on April 8. Three police officers forcibly entered her house and mistreated her before arresting her on charges that she spreads propaganda, disrupts public opinion, and threatens national security, according to Changes for Equality. Maghaddam is a member of the […]
After spending eleven years in prison awaiting death by stoning because of committing adultery, Mokarrameh Ebrahimi was released on Monday March 17. Ebrahimi and her partner Ja’far Kiani were convicted of adultery and sentenced to be stoned to death in northwestern Iran. According to Amnesty International, the Stop Stoning Forever campaign in Iran publicized the […]
The Iranian government forced Irans influential womens magazine Zanan (“Women” in Farsi) to close down last week. The Commission for Press Authorization and Surveillance claim that Zanan painted a “dark picture” of Iran. Iranian authorities allege that Zanan was “compromising the psyche and the mental health” of the society by disseminating “morally questionable information.” Zanans […]
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 […]
Feminist Jelveh Javaheri”s arrest makes her the second feminist to be arrested in Iran in two weeks for campaigning for women”s rights. Jelveh Javaheri was charged with “publishing false information”, “disturbing public opinion”, and “publicity against the Islamic Republic” by setting up her internet advocacy website “We-Change”, Reporters Without Borders reports. Approximately 33 women have […]
During a recent trip to Iran, United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights Louise Arbour met with women’s rights activist and Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi on the status of women in Iran. According to Reuters, Dr. Ebadi wrote to the United Nations earlier this summer, asking for a UN investigation of Iran’s treatment of […]
Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari left Iran earlier this week after eight months of detention. Dr. Esfandiari, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, was prevented from leaving Iran to return to the US after visiting her ailing mother in December 2006. Iran accused her of being a threat to Iranian national security, and […]
Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar who has worked extensively for women’s rights, has now been held in Iran for 100 days on charges that she was conspiring to overthrow the government and committing espionage. The Iranian Judiciary has announced that their investigation of Dr. Esfandiari has concluded, though no decision has been announced as to […]
