Defending Women, Defending Rights International Campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders
Mahboobeh Abbasgholizadeh, a woman activist in Iran and editor of Farzaneh (the first women’s studies journal in Iran) is in prison upon the order of Tehran’s General Prosecutor. For more than two weeks now, Mahboobeh has been held without any formal charges, and she has been denied access to legal counsel or any visitors. Her only apparent offense is her activism and strong linkages with international women’s rights movement. Fereshteh Ghazi, another woman journalist writing on women’s issues for a daily newspaper in Iran, was also arrested.
Irene Fernandez, a Malaysian woman activist who has been fighting for women workers’ rights, has been prosecuted and convicted by the Malaysian government in a case, which has been dragged on for eight years. She is being prosecuted for releasing comprehensive documentation of the abuses against migrant workers in detention in Malaysia. She is currently appealing her case before the court. 
