Women’s Day in Iran

From the Amnesty International Canada website:

“Women’s Day in Iran
On March 8th the world celebrated the 98th anniversary of International Women’s Day. The government of Iran marked the coming of this day by arresting 33 women activists. 2 continue to be held with no word on their possible release A demonstration for women’s rights held in front of Iran’s parliament on 8 March was forcibly broken up by security forces who are said to have injured several women.

The two women still in prison
Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh is the editor of the Zanan, a quarterly journal and is a key member of the “Stop Stoning Forever” Campaign, launched in September 2006 to end the practice of stoning to death in Iran.
Shadi Sadr, a lawyer and journalist, is the director of Raahi, a legal advice centre for women. She founded the first website dedicated to the work of Iranian women’s rights activists and she has written extensively about Iranian women and their legal rights.
Mahboubeh is said to suffer from arthritis and migraine, and Shadi from chronic stomach pain, possibly an ulcer. It is feared that neither woman is receiving adequate medical treatment. Mahboubeh has not been allowed to contact anyone since her arrest; Shadi has been allowed to telephone her husband twice. Amnesty fears they will be tortured.

Human rights in Iran
Amnesty International continues to document serious human violations in Iran. Iran has one of the highest number of recorded executions of any country in the world. Amnesty is particularly concerned about the execution of children and minors. In one case, an 18-year-old girl, Nazanin, was sentenced to be executed for having, at age 17, stabbed to death one of three men in a park who were attempting to rape her and her younger niece.

The bigger picture
As Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Amnesty International knows there is a direct relationship between peace, justice and respect for human rights. As long as women are denied human rights, anywhere in the world, there can be no justice and no peace. Recognizing women’s equal rights is an essential requirement for the creation of strong, sustainable and stable societies and ensuring that women enjoy equality with men in all areas of life is a key step to making human rights a universal reality.”

Since I originally posted this article on my previous blog(the one with technical difficulties) in March, the following update has been posted on the website:

"Thank you to the more than 2,300 Canadians who responded immediately to Amnesty International’s urgent plea last week to write on behalf of these two courageous human rights campaigners in Iran .
Prisoners of conscience Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Shadi Sadr were released on Tuesday March 19 from Evin Prison, Tehran , on bail over US$215,000. They were among 33 women detained on 4 March during a protest in Tehran. Mahboubeh and Shadi had been held in solitary confinement between 6 and 15 March.
Amnesty welcomes the news that Mahboubeh and Shadi have been released on bail, and will continue to call for all charges to be dropped against anyone charged in connection with the peaceful demonstration on 12 June 2006, or in connection with the peaceful protest on 4 March 2007.
Thank you to all of our dedicated members who took time to write on behalf of these courageous women! "

Just goes to show how much power petitions and letter campaigns can have - so next time you hear about one, get involved, it really does help!

~Chris