Women's groups in Iran calling for reforms in their country's constitution were beaten and arrested during a women's day assembly last March 8, 2006. At least 2000 women were holding a peaceful assembly after being refused a permit to rally that day when police violence erupted, reports Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML).
The women were starting to walk from Daneshjoo Park to Laleh Park in the capital Tehran, when they were asked to disperse by police. BBC world reported that milita groups, which they characterised as "vigilantes," harassed the women, and joined the police in beating up the women gathered at Daneshjoo Park. Police then arrested many of the protesters, but the exact numbers taken into custody have not been disclosed.

The women's groups, including the Society for Defence of Women's Rights in Iran and the Women's Rights Association of Iran, had prepared a statement asking for an end to gender discrimination as well as social and legal rights for women. They are protesting the Sharia (laws based on interpretations of Islamic holy texts), which among other provisions, bars women from running for president, privileges the male spouse in cases of divorce, and has unequal provisions for custody of young children after divorce. The Sharia laws also rule that "blood money" for a murdered woman is half that of a man. (Blood money is money paid by a killer as compensation to the next of kin of an accidental death victim.)

"Tens of thousands of great women have sacrificed their life for the ideal of equality and humanity," commented Zalil Habibi of Women's Freedom Forum, a US-based womens organisation documenting women's movement activities around the world. "But history has failed to acknowledge them because of the male-dominated culture we live in."

Women's groups inside and outside Iran are reporting continued repression of activists under the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reported WLUML, including the arrests of workers protesting labour conditions in peaceful gatherings.

Support for these womens groups in the form of letters to concerned Iranian authorities may be sent to the relevant addresses below. Please supply copies to WLUML at <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> so that they can track the letters of support that were sent.

It is not always easy to send faxes and emails to Iran and so they request that letters be sent by courier to the Iranian embassy in respective countries (see <http://www.mfa.gov.ir/other-sites/missions/english/mission-english.html> for a country listing).

 *SAMPLE LETTER *

Your Excellency,

We write to express our deep concern about reports of violent attacks and arrests of women's rights activists, women's groups and human rights defenders on March 8, 2006, International Womens Day. We are indeed astonished that women such as Nobel-nominated poet Ms. Simin Behbehani were treated in this way and that the women gathered at the peaceful protest were repeatedly told by the security forces, as they administered beatings, that they had orders to beat the protesters.

We understand that the Iranian constitution allows for peaceful gatherings without permit but that the government requests a permit for public gatherings. To our knowledge, women's rights groups have been repeatedly denied requests to hold public gatherings, and so they have chosen to exercise their rights of assembly in organising peaceful gatherings without obtaining permits but this is no excuse or reason for such a violent and disproportionate response.

We are extremely worried that these actions are part of an ongoing campaign against womens NGOs and civil society organisations in Iran. Given the current international environment, it is important that the Iranian government ensures that those who have been contributing positively by providing a more rational perspective on Iran to the international community, such as journalists, academics, and civil society groups, are encouraged to continue to play their positive and constructive role for the further development of their country.

Yours sincerely,

*Please send letters to: *

Leader of the Islamic Republic:
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 251 7 774 2228
(mark "FAO the Office of His Excellency, Ayatollah al Udhma Khamenei")
Email: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary:
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice
Park-e Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
(mark "Please forward to His Excellency Ayatollah Shahroudi") via the
judiciary website: www.iranjudiciary.org/feedback_en.html
<http://webmail.cityu.edu.hk/redirect?http://www.iranjudiciary.org/feedback_en.html>
Salutation: Your Excellency

President:
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 6 649 5880
Email: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
</webmail/src/compose.php?send_to=dr-ahmadinejad%40president.ir>>
via website: www.president.ir/email
<http://webmail.cityu.edu.hk/redirect?http://www.president.ir/email>

Minister of the Interior:
Hojjatoleslam Mustafa Purmohammadi
Ministry of the Interior
Dr Fatemi Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Fax: +98 21 8 896 203 +98 21 8 899 547 +98 21 6 650 203

Brig. Gen. Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam
Farmandehi Nirooye Entezami, Kooshek-e Mesri Street
Ferdowsi, after Imam Khomeini's Square, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Sources:

"Iran: Peaceful Iranian women's rights gathering on 8th March, ends in violence" (2006). Retrieved March 17, 2006 from Women Living under Muslim Laws <http://www.wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd%5b157%5d=x-157-530307>.

Iran: Police attack Womens Day Celebration. (2006). Retrieved March 20, 2006 from Human Rights Watch <http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/03/09/iran12832.htm>.

Sderlindh, L. (2006). "Crackdown won't stop women's movement, activists vow" Retrieved March 17, 2006 from IPS News <http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32533>.

Wikipedia <http://www.wikipedia.org>