Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh arbitrarily arrested along with thirty-one other women human rights defenders and journalists during a peaceful protest in Tehran on 4 March 2007 remain in solitary confinement in sector 209 of Evin prison.

The thirty-women who have been released have all reported on the harsh conditions of detention in Evin prison. It is understood that Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh is being held incommunicado. Both women have been denied access to medical care and the harsh conditions of their detention is worsening their medical conditions. Shadi Sadr suffers from a chronic stomach ulcer, and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh suffers from arthritis and migraine headaches. They are both forced to sleep on the floor, with only one blanket. There is no toilet in their cells. They have faced three separate accusations: “acting against national security”, “holding an illegal assembly”, and “confronting the security forces.” The remaining two charges have not been disclosed to the lawyers of the women.

Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh was detained for a month in November 2004. Shadi Sadr, who was her lawyer at the time, was harassed and threatened by the District Attorney’s Office in Tehran a number of times. Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh is a prominent human rights defender; she is the editor of Farzaneh Quarterly, a bilingual journal on women’s studies that has been published in Iran since 1993. She is the founder and director of the Iranian NGO training centre. She was the founding member of the Board of Trustees of the Network of Women’s NGOs in Iran. She is also one of the founders of the “Stop Stoning Forever Campaign”. She was arrested and detained in solitary confinement in November 2005 and was threatened of being arrested a second time in 2005

Shadi Sadr is a prominent human rights defender, lawyer and journalist in Iran. She is the director of a legal centre for women, Zanan-e Iran (Women of Iran). She is the founder of the website www.womeniniran.net and is the co-founder of www.meydaan.org, a website devoted to campaigns to end discrimination against women. She co-organised the “Stop Stoning Forever Campaign” in 2006.

Front Line condemns the continued detention of Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and calls on the Iranian authorities to grant their immediate and unconditional release. Front Line also calls on the authorities to take measures to guarantee their physical and psychological integrity and to grant immediate access to their families, lawyers and to all necessary medical treatment.