(3 February 2009) Alieh Eghdamdoust (57) is a women’s rights activist involved in the One Million Signatures Campaign. She was arrested on 31 January 2009 in her hometown of Foman, Iran to begin serving a 3-year prison sentence. Her lawyers had appealed her case but had not been informed of the result of her sentence confirmation before the day she was arrested.

The authorities arrested Eghdamdoust on 31 January 2009 in her hometown of Foman, north of Iran, to begin serving a 3-year prison sentence. Neither she nor her lawyers were informed about the results of her appeal, which was decided nearly a year ago in contravention of Iranian laws, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said.

Security agents previously arrested Eghdamdoust, along with 70 other women’s rights activists protesting in Haft Tir Square, Tehran on 12 June 2006. She spent one week in detention, refusing to post bail because she did not accept that she had broken any laws. She was later summoned to the Intelligence Offices in Tehran on 19 September 2006, and charged with “acting against national security through participating in an illegal gathering and disturbing public order” by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court on 6 June 2007. The presiding judge, Mr. Salavati, sentenced her to three-year mandatory prison term for participating in an “illegal gathering” and four-month suspended prison term and 20 lashes for disturbing public order, based on articles 610 and 618 of the Islamic Penal code.