Women human rights defenders released in Iran
Front Line celebrates the arrival of the Iranian New Year (Nourouz) on 21 March 2007 with the release of the two remaining detained women human rights defenders, Shadi Sadr and Mahboobeh Abasgholizadeh. They were released on March 19 with bail conditions. Front Line would like to thank everyone who took action on this case.
Shadi Sadr and Mahboobeh Abasgholizadeh were the last two women of the thirty-four women's rights defenders to remain in Evin prison after having been arrested during a peaceful demonstration on 4 March 2007 in front of Tehran's Revolutionary Court. The Iranian Authorities gradually released the women during the first week of the arrests. Shadi Sadr and Mahboobeh Abasgholizadeh spent 6-15 March in solitary confinement. Throughout their detainment they were kept in ward 209 of Evin Prison (run by the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran). According to their families, on March 15 both were transferred from solitary confinement into the same cell and were given newspapers to read. As a condition of their release, their bail was set at 200 million toman each (approximately 190,000 Euro), a prohibitively high amount.
50 of Ireland's most prominent women's rights activists signed up to the appeal in the Irish Times and they were joined by ten members of the European Parliament. Over 500 people from around the world signed the on-line petition. Front Line would like to thank everyone who supported this action.
None of the thirty four women have been formally charged but a number of the women have been accused of compromising the security of the state amongst other accusations. Their legal cases remain open.
On 15 March 2007 the Iranian authorities moved to close three human rights Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) with which some of the women were linked: the Iranian Civil Society Organizations Training and Resource Centre (ICTRC), the Raahi institute and the Iranian NGO Training Centre (NGO-TC). The offices of two organisations run by Shadi Sadr and Mahboobeh Abasgholizadeh, the Iranian NGO Training Centre (NGO-TC) and the Raahi Institute (which are based in the same building) was shut down and sealed shut by the Revolutionary Court. Members of the Iranian Intelligence closed down the office of the Iranian Civil Society Organizations Training and Resource Centre (ICTRC).
The Raahi Institute (The Path to Empowerment), which provides legal counsel for predominantly marginalized under-represented women involved in criminal and/or family law cases was founded by Sadr. The Markaz Karvarzi Sazmanhaye Gheyr Dolati (NGO Training Center), provides training and capacity building for civil activists and advocacy NGO's and was founded by Abasgholizadeh. The ICTRC is a non-for- profit organisation founded in 2002, which workson the capacity building of Iranian civil society organisations.
We would like to thank you for supporting Front Line's action for the women human rights defenders in Iran. Your support and the activities organised in countries around the world was much appreciated by those arrested and their families. Initial indications are that the scale of the international mobilisation had some impact on the Iranian authorities. If you would like to sign up to support other Front Line actions you can do so at www.frontlinedefenders.org/act and we will send you one action per week.
If you would like more information about how you can support Front Line in its work to protect human rights defenders please go to www.frontlinedefenders.org/donations or contact our Head of Fundraising, Charlie Lamson, at charlielamson@frontlinedefenders.org or 01 212 3750.
Click here for more information on the cases and the campaign Free Women's Rights Defenders in Iran, which was launched immediately after the arrests of the women human rights defenders.