Women Activists in Iran: Arrest, Imprisonment, and Ban

International Liberty Association: Recently in Iran, more women activists have been arrested and imprisoned due to their activities to support civil and human rights.
Iran prevents activists from forming and operating civil society organizations using tactics such as summoning, arresting, imprisoning, and banning free activity.

This strategy is accelerates when it comes to women activists in Iran. Suppression, arrest, bans on activities, and imprisonment of women activists are among the primary goals of Iran’s repressive institutions.

Despite the spread of the Covid-19 in recent months, and despite the Iranian authorities’ claims that it would reduce the number of new prisoners, women activists in Iran continue to be arrested, summoned, interrogated, and sentenced to prison terms.

ILA: The followings are some example of suppression on women activists:

• Masoumeh Akbari, a civil activist, was sentenced to 6 years in prison on 24 June. She was sentenced to prison terms for attending a March 8 rally and a sit-in in front of the Bar Association.

• Mojgan Kavousi, a Kurdish civil activist, was denied the right to leave to meet with family members because she had protested Nowshahr Prison’s lack of transparency about the publication of Covid-19 news in the women’s ward. On 23 June, one of Kavousi’s relatives reported that prison officials had not allowed her to make any phone calls. The Kurdish writer was transferred to Evin Prison on 22 June.

• Leila Hosseinzadeh, a student civil activist, was summoned to Evin Court on 21 June. She was charged with “disturbing the peace in the prison by chanting slogans against the Islamic Republic” during an interrogation session.

• Somayeh Ramouz, Sakineh Parvaneh, Akram Rahimpour, and Zohreh Asadpour, all women civil activists in Iran, were summoned, detained, and sentenced to new terms of imprisonment this past May.

• Soha Mortezaii, a graduate of Tehran University with a master’s degree in political science and a former secretary of the Tehran University Trade Union Council was summoned on 30 April to serve her sentence.

• Shahla Delbina and her husband Sharif Saedpanah, a labor activist and member of the board of directors of the Free Trade Union of Iran, were summoned and interrogated on 30 April.

• Ashraf (Roghayeh) Nafri, a mathematics student at Khajeh Nasir Tusi University and a Twitter activist, was arrested in Shahriar on 26 April and transferred to Qarchak Prison in Varamin.

• Nahid Khodajoo, a labor activist and member of the board of directors of the Free Trade Union of Iran, was summoned to the Evin Court on15 April to serve her sentence.

• Narges Mansouri, a civil activist, was threatened via telephone and summoned on 13 April. Security agents told her that she had to surrender to Evin Court by the morning of Tuesday, 14 April.

• Nasrin Hassani, a journalist and women’s rights activist, was summoned to the Bojnourd city court on 13 April. She was charged with “propaganda against the state.”

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