Six women’s rights activists received jail sentences for participating last year in a peaceful protest against Iran’s discriminatory laws against women. Arrests of women continue as Iranian police launched another crackdown targeting women who are not dressed conservatively enough.

Six women activists who participated in a public demonstration against Iran’s discriminatory laws against women in June last year were recently sentenced to prison. According to Human Rights Watch, these women—Nusheen Ahmadi Khorasani, Shahla Entesari, Parvin Ardalan, Fariba Davoodi Mohajer, Sussan Tahmassebi, and Azadeh Forghaniwho—were either charged with “acting against national security by participating in an illegal gathering” or “collusion and assembly to endanger national security.”
 
“I am shocked to hear of these sentences. Campaigning to end discriminatory laws should not send a woman to jail. Working to build an equal society is building human security, not threatening national security,” said Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Iranian women’s activist Shirin Ebadi.

All six women are active in the “Change for Equality” campaign, which aims to end discrimination against Iranian women by collecting one million signatures to protest Iran’s discriminatory laws. Each of the six signed the “One Million Signatures” petition, calling for
– the elimination of polygamy,
– equality of inheritance rights for women and men,
– equality of weight for testimony given by women and men, and
– equality of compensation in the event of the wrongful death of a man and of a woman.

“The Iranian Judiciary is using national security laws to imprison women’s rights activists for peacefully protesting against legally sanctioned discrimination,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, adding, “Instead of persecuting women’s rights activists, Iran’s government should scrap laws that discriminate against women.”

One such law imposes strict standards on women’s clothing.

Recently, Iranian police have launched another crackdown against women accused of not being dressed conservatively enough. Nearly 300 women were arrested on the bases of wearing tight-fitting clothes and not covering all of their hair with their veils. All but 47 have been released after pledging to not appear “inadequately dressed in public” again. Another 3,548 women received “warnings and Islamic guidance” without being detained.

To learn more about the “Change for Equality,” visit <www.weforchange.net/english/>.

Related articles:
“Iran: 33 women activists arrested during peaceful demonstration” in we! March 2007, No. 1 
“Iran: Arrests of women’s rights activists continue” in we! April 2007, No. 1 

Sources:
“Iran Cracks Down On Women’s Dress Code” from CBS News, posted on April 24, 2007, <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/24/world/main2722122.shtml>. “Iran: More Feminist Activists Sentenced to Jail, Police Crackdown on Women in Public” from Feminist Majority Foundation, posted on April 27, 2007, <http://feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=10279>.
“Iran: National Security Laws Used to Jail Women’s Rights Activists,” from Human Rights News, posted on April 27, 2007, <http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/04/27/iran15777.htm>.
“Iranian Feminist Advocate Arrested for Second Time” from Feminist Majority Foundation, posted on May 8, 2007, <http://feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=10300>.