Iran

Iran Charges Prominent Women's Rights Activists

A policewoman with a baton confronts a protester at the June 12 demonstration in Tehran (kosoof.com) June 21, 2006 -- Leading Iranian women's rights activists Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani and Parvin Ardalan have been charged with acting "against national security" by calling for an "illegal" gathering to promote equal rights and publishing related statements, according to Iranian news reports.
The charges stem from a June 12 women's rights gathering in Tehran that was forcefully dispersed by police forces, including baton-wielding female officers.

Ahmadi Khorasani and Ardalan have reportedly been freed on their own recognizance.

Also today in Iran, the lawyer of detained former reformist legislator Ali Akbar Moussavi Khoeini, who was arrested during the protest, said he has not been allowed to meet with his client and neither has he been informed of charges against him.

Iran's main reformist party has called for Moussavi Khoeini's release.

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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