No Information About Detained Women’s Rights Activist

(21 January 2010) Iranian judicial and prison authorities have refused to release any information about charges against women’s rights activist Somayeh Rashidi (24), who was arrested on 19 December 2009, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported today.

During the past two months, over a thousand people have been detained through the use of a blanket detention order, which is effectively a license for security and intelligence agents to arrest anyone at will. Hundreds of these detainees, similar to Somayeh Rashidi, have disappeared into Iranian prisons without any information available to their families or lawyers.

Persecution of Women’s Rights Campaigners Intensifies

(16 April 2009) A new report by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran documents that the persecution of women’s rights advocates has intensified in the past year.

For the first time, a women’s rights advocate, Alieh Eghdamdoust, has been jailed for three years solely for participating in a peaceful demonstration on behalf of equal rights for women in 2006, in which 70 others were also arrested.

“Publicly expressing support for women’s rights has effectively been criminalized in Iran,” said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesperson for the Campaign.

Report on the Status of Women Human Rights Defenders — April 2009

As the Islamic Republic of Iran celebrates its thirtieth anniversary, human rights abuses are on the rise. Women’s rights activists advocating for legal reforms and the protection of women’s rights have been increasingly targeted. Since our last report, the most prominent human rights defender, Shirin Ebadi, has come under fire; a prison sentence of a woman’s rights activist has been implemented for the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran; and other women’s rights activists have been targeted, harassed, arrested, summoned, tried and barred from travel. The following report covers the pressures on women human rights defenders since June 2008.

International Organizations Call on Iran to End Persecution and Prosecution of Women’s Rights Activists

In a letter to President Ahmadinejad the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition, together with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, called on Iran to release Alieh Eghdamdoust and stop its increasing persecution and prosecution of women human rights defenders.

We, the undersigned members of the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition, submit this statement to express our deepest concerns…

Petition for the Release of Alieh Eghdamdoust

Fill out the form below to send an appeal to Head of the Judiciary Ayatollah Shahroudi for the release of imprisoned women’s rights activist Alieh Eghdamdoust (sample letter posted after jump): * Name (First, Last) * Email * Verify by typing code Script by Dagon Design —————————————————————————————————– Your Excellency, I am writing to express my [...]

Alieh Eghdamdoust

Alieh Eghdamdoust 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 her three-year prison sentence.

Unprecedented Three-Year Sentence for Women’s Rights Activist Implemented

(3 February 2009) The Iranian Judiciary should immediately release imprisoned women’s rights activist, Alieh Eghdamdoust, and end its prosecution of all women’s rights activists. 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.