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On December 10, women’s rights activist and attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh and her family went to the Imam Khomeini Airport. They planned to travel to Italy, where Sotoudeh was to receive an international human rights award.
Sotoudeh heard her name announced over the airport intercom system. Security officials approached her, seized her passport, and informed her that she was not permitted to travel.
Sotoudeh is not alone. At least four other women’s rights activists have gone through the same (...)

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
AI Index: MDE 01/001/2008
11 December 2008
Human rights defenders barred from leaving Iran, Tunisia
As human rights activists across the world marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) yesterday, both the governments of Iran and Tunisia prevented leading human rights activists from travelling abroad.
Iranian security authorities barred lawyer and women’s rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh from taking a flight (...)

GENEVA, 27 November 2008 – “Over the past two years, women’s rights defenders have faced an increasingly difficult situation and harassment in the course of their non-violent activities in the defence of women’s rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran,†warned two UN human rights experts.
In a joint statement, Special Rapporteurs Margaret Sekaggya (situation of Human Rights Defenders) and Yakin Ertürk (Violence against Women, its causes and consequences) expressed deep concern regarding the (...)

We, the undersigned international women’s and human rights organizations, submit this letter to express our deep concern regarding the increasing harassment of women human rights defenders in Iran. Over the past three years, the Iranian regime has engaged in a systematic campaign of repression against women’s rights activists. Since their heavyhanded break-up of a peaceful women’s rights demonstration on June 12, 2006,
the authorities in Iran have arrested, detained, interrogated, and (...)

On the second anniversary of the launch of the Campaign for Equality on 27 August, Amnesty International is renewing its demand that the Iranian authorities cease harassing and imprisoning women’s rights defenders and to restrict their campaigning activities for the repeal of laws and policies which discriminate against women in Iran.
The Campaign for Equality is a network of individuals working to end legal discrimination against women. The campaign informs women of their rights, and is (...)

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/107/2008
01 August 2008
UA 207/08 Fear of torture or other ill-treatment
IRAN Zeynab Bayzeydi (f), women’s rights activist
Women’s rights activist Zeynab Bayzeydi was arrested on 9 July, after the police ordered her to present herself for interrogation at a police station in the city of Mahabad, in the western province of Kordestan. She is in danger of torture or other ill-treatment.
Zeynab Bayzeydi is a member of the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan (HROK) (...)

"It is a mistake to think that striving for women’s rights is fighting for the rights of only half of society." – Amir Yaghoub-Ali
Amir Yaghoub-Ali, a 21-year-old student and gender equality activist, will serve a one-year prison sentence unless his conviction is overturned.
Yaghoub-Ali is the first man to have been arrested in connection with the One Million Signatures Campaign, which calls for an end to gender discrimination in Iranian laws. To date, at least 44 members of the Signatures (...)

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/097/2008
25 July 2008
Further Information on UA 169/08 (MDE 13/084/2008, 17 June 2008 and Follow up MDE 13/089/2008, 27 June 2008) Arbitrary arrest/fear of torture or ill-treatment
IRAN Mahboubeh Karami (f), aged 40, journalist and women’s rights defender,
and about 200 others
Mahboubeh Karami has been held in Evin Prison in Tehran since 13 June. Bail of 1,000 billion rials (approximately US$110,000) was set on 12 July, but her family have been unable to raise (...)

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE13/098/2008
25 July 2008
Further Information on 271/07 (MDE/124/2007, 23 October 2007) Death Penalty/Fear of Imminent Execution
IRAN Soghra Najafpour (f), aged 31
Soghra Najafpour has been sentenced to death, for the second time, for a murder which took place when she was only 13 years old. She is in prison in the northern city of Rasht, where she has spent most of the last 19 years.
Soghra Najafpour was released on bail of 600 million Iranian rials (almost (...)

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/089/2008
27 June 2008
Further Information on UA 169/08 (MDE 13/084/2008, 17 June 2008) Arbitrary arrest/fear of torture or ill-treatment
IRAN Mahboubeh Karami (f), aged 40, journalist and women’s rights defender
and about 200 others
Mahboubeh Karami is currently held in the women’s section of Evin Prison in Tehran. According to women’s rights organization, the Campaign for Equality (http://www.change4equality.info/spip.php?article2276) Mahboubeh telephoned her (...)