Two Iranian Women's Rights Advocates Remain In Jail

(RFE/RL) March 12, 2007 --Two prominent Iranian women's rights activists who were arrested at a peaceful protest on March 4 have been ordered detained for a month.

Their lawyer, Farideh Gheyrat has said that she has protested over the court order.


Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh were arrested along with some 30 other women after they gathered outside a court to show support for activists on trial in connection with last June's protest against discriminatory laws.


All the women arrested on March 4 were subsequently released, with the exception of Sadr and Abbasgholizadeh, who remain in Tehran's Evin prison.


Charges against Sadr and Abbasgholizadeh include disturbing public order.


Both activists have been involved in efforts to change laws that discriminate against women.


Several human rights organizations have called on Iran to end the persecution of women's rights activists.


(ILNA, AFP, meydaan.com)

Women In Iran

Women In Iran

Women in Tehran (epa file photo)

CALLING FOR MORE RIGHTS: Although women played key roles in Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the place of women in post-revolutionary society has been a vexing question. Iranian women have struggled to bring attention to their calls for greater rights in their country's rigid theocratic system, calls that have often clashed with the values proclaimed by conservatives in society. (more)


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