Stand With Our Sisters in Iran

international | gender and sexuality | other press Tuesday April 03, 2007 15:36 by Jessie Raeder - The Feminist Majority Foundation jraeder at feminist dot org 1600 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 801, Arlington, VA 22209 (703) 522-2214.

If you were a feminist activist in Iran today, you would be under the constant threat of arrest for a simple action: asking for equal rights. On Sunday, March 4, 34 women’s rights activists were arrested for silently gathering outside Tehran’s Revolutionary Court to protest the prosecution of four women on trial that morning. The four women’s rights leaders are facing multiple charges including “acting against national security” for organizing a protest for women’s equality in Tehran in 2006.

These brave women, who represented many, if not most, of Iran's women's rights leaders, were held in Iran's notorious Evin prison. Although all but two of these women have now been released, they were barred from participating in a rally outside the Iranian parliament on International Women's Day.