Women’s rights activist jailed in Iran

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Friday November 23, 2007 16:56 by Maryjane O'Leary - HOPIE

Iranian journalist and women’s rights activist Maryam Hossienkhah has been detained in Evin prison in Iran charged with disruption of public opinion and propaganda against the state.

Following interrogation by the security branch of the Revolutionary Courts she was transferred to Evin Prison on Sunday.

The Women’s Cultural Centre website, an NGO with whom Hossienkhah worked, was shut down by the Iranian Ministry of Culture within days of her arrest.

Maryam Hosseikhah has worked tirelessly in the name of anti-discrimination against women in Iran for many years and is a leading activist on the One Million Signatures Campaign Against Discriminatory Laws.

Her arrest appears to be the latest in an official clampdown on anti-government dissenters within Iran.

But Maryam’s husband insists his wife’s aims are social and not political.

Mr Shahab Mirzayi said: “(She is) engaged in bringing equality for men and women. They want to take a draft law to the parliament. What they're doing is legal and transparent. Unfortunately they're facing these actions - it's not clear why they're being treated like this."

At least two other members of the campaign have been jailed in recent months. Ronak Safarzadeh and Hana Abdi were arrested in September and October in Kurdistan Province. They remain in prison, reportedly with no access to family members or lawyers.

Earlier this month, Iran's judiciary temporarily suspended prison sentences against a women's rights activist and social worker who were arrested at a demonstration in mid-2006.