Fariba Davoodi Mohajer an outspoken journalist and prominent human rights defender from Iran is due in court on 11 March 2007, to face charges relating to her involvement with a peaceful women’s rights demonstration in July 2006.
The Iranian authorities have subjected Fariba Davoodi Mohajer to prolonged judicial harassment. Prior to the demonstration on women’s rights she was issued a summons to appear at the Revolutionary Court on 10 June 2006. She was interrogated for 10 hours. She was informed that she should be available to be summoned by the court. On 12 June 2006 about sixty protesters were arrested while demonstrating for women’s rights in Tehran. Following her summons on 10 June 2006, Fariba Davoodi Mohajer was summoned on eight separate occasions, three times to appear in front of the Revolutionary Court and on five occasions to appear at the Ministry of Security.
On 18 February 2000, Fariba Davoodi Mohajer was arrested and spent forty days blindfolded in solitary confinement in an unknown location. She was refused access to lawyers and her family, and was subjected to long interrogations. She was arrested by members of the security forces of the Security Department of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran. She was later charged with “acting against national security”, “encouraging students to rebel against the regime”, and “disseminating false news”.
On 4 November 2003, Fariba Davoodi Mohajer was convicted on charges for “publishing articles against the Iranian Regime”, “risking the security of the state by organising a protest,” and “weakening the structure of the state”. She received a suspended 2-year sentence. For the duration of the sentence Fariba was under constant surveillance. Fariba Davoodi Mohajer is the head of the Union of Young Journalists, a member of the central committee of the Organization of Defenders of Media and Press Freedoms in Iran, and a member of the governing council of the policymaking organisation Advar Daftar Tahkim Vahdat. She is also highly active in the women's rights movement in Iran. The authorities have banned her from writing for newspapers; she now resorts to contributing to a number of on-line publications about human rights and gender. She made a formal complaint in regards to this ban to the Minister for Culture.
The current charges she faces are for “publishing articles against the Iranian Regime”, “risking the security of the state by organising a protest” and “weakening the structure of the state.”
Front Line urges the Iranian authorities to drop all charges against Fariba Davoodi Mohajer as they relate solely to her peaceful human rights activities Front Line calls on the authorities to permit Fariba Davoodi Mohajer to practice her work as a journalist and her work in the field of human rights.