|
 |
 |
| afghanistan | bahrain | brazil | cameroon | egypt | india | indonesia | iran | jordan | kazakhstan | kyrgyzstan | |
| lebanon | malaysia | mauritania | morocco | nicaragua | nigeria | pakistan | palestine | turkey | uzbekistan | zimbabwe |
English
"One Million Signatures" Campaign: Demanding an End to Discriminatory Laws Against Women in Iran
Read more about the history of the campaign
Iranian women’s rights activists are fighting gender apartheid through the “One Million Signatures” campaign, which aims to collect one million signatures to demand an end to discriminatory laws against women. At present, men have the sole right to divorce and except in special cases, the right to custody of children. One man’s testimony equals that of two women. And certain positions, such as that of a judge, are closed to women. The campaign is a continuation of Iranian women’s century-long struggle for gender equality.
Women’s Rights and Campaign Activist Somaiyeh Farid Arrested While Following Up on Husband's Detention
March 16, 2010
| SUPPORT IRANIAN WOMEN |
|---|
|
Sign the petition and help them reach their goal of one million signatures to end discriminatory laws against women.
|
Change for Equality: Somaiyeh Farid, Campaign and women’s rights activist, was arrested on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 16 while she was following up on the situation of her husband at Evin Prison. Somaiyeh’s husband, Hojat (Siavash) Montazeri, was arrested on March 5. Despite repeated attempts to gain information about his whereabouts and the reason for his arrest, Somaiyeh had been unable to do so.
On the morning of March 16, Somaiyeh contacted her lawyer, explaining that she had received a phone call from court officials asking her to go to the prosecutor’s office at Evin prison to claim some of her husband’s personal belongings, such as bank cards and identification. Additionally, officials had promised that she may receive permission to visit with her husband. Somaiyeh’s lawyer explained further that: "later in the afternoon, around 5:00pm, Somaiyeh contacted me explaining that she and her brother-in-law had gone to the prosecutor's office at Evin prison, but were told that the office was closed and that they needed to return the next day." Somaiyeh explained to her lawyer that she was on her way home, but apparently somewhere along the way she and her brother-in-law were arrested. While her brother-in-law was released shortly thereafter, Somaiyeh was detained. No information on her whereabouts exists, and it is believed that she was arrested because she had been interviewed earlier in the week regarding the arrest of her husband.
Somaiyeh's lawyer explained that "arresting family members for conducting interviews is unprecedented, and none of the family members of those detained had been arrested in the past solely for conducting interviews."
Besides illegal telephone summons, it appears that now, arrest of family members of those detained has turned into a regular and illegal activity by court and security officials. The developments in the case of Somaiyeh Farid demonstrate that family members are not only not free to follow up the case of their detained relatives and to conduct interviews with respect to the pressures they face, but that in doing so they too can be targeted for arrest.
Somaiyeh Farid is an activist with the One Million Signatures Campaign. Her colleagues remain concerned about her detention and fear that with her arrest these illegal actions will lead to further rogue actions by security officials who do not feel bound by law or justice.
Read more about Somaiyeh Farid
Site of Change For Equality Blocked for 23rd Time
March 16, 2010
Change for Equality: The site of Change for Equality, the site of the One Million Signatures Campaign, which won the first Reporters without Borders Netizen Prize with support from Google on March 11, was blocked by authorities once again.
This site has been blocked twenty three times to date. The blocking of this site took place on March 12, which is marked as the International Day to Combat Censorship.
The new address of the site is:
www.sign4equality.info/english
Those accessing the site of Change for Equality from outside Iran, can access our site from this new address or continue to use our original address, which we update at:
International Women's Day Celebrations in Iran
March 8, 2010
Change for Equality: As March 8th, International Women’s Day, approaches its 100th anniversary, Iranian women’s rights activists took to the streets once again to raise awareness about the importance of this day and to discuss their demands with the public. Women’s rights activists in Iran have been celebrating this day for years, including in their private homes, in parks and through conferences and seminars. The increased pressure on women’s rights activists has forced them to take up more creative approaches in connecting with the public and discussing their demands.
This year too, a number of activists involved in the One Million Signatures Campaign distributed purple bracelets especially designed for March 8, along with the Campaign’s booklet "The Impact of Discriminatory Laws on the Lives of Women," and a brochure explaining the history of March 8th in different parts of Tehran, including at Universities, in the streets, shopping malls, restaurants and coffee shops.
Activists believe that the purple bracelets can serve as reminders of the struggle of Iranian women for achieving equality. In recent months, use of similar symbols has served as reminders of a common struggle between the Iranian people and a means to encourage solidarity in achieving common goals. The purple bracelets too can serve a similar purpose, demonstrating solidarity with the demands of the women’s movement.
One of the activists involved in the effort to distribute bracelets and brochures to the public explained to the site of Change for Equality that: "the public was extremely receptive of the bracelets, our brochures and our message." Another activist explained that: "those receiving these bracelets would immediately tie them around their wrists and would vow to explain the history and significance of the day for their friends." Another activist involved in the Campaign explained that: "it wasn’t just women who were interested in the bracelets, but men too were eager to tie them around their wrists." Yet another Campaign activist explained to the site of Change for Equality that: "some of those receiving the bracelets and brochures would ask how they could become more involved in working for women’s equal rights."
The receptive attitude of the public to this effort demonstrates once again that despite the immense pressure faced by Campaign activists in the past few years, the arrests and prison detentions and sentences, their message has managed to reach the public, and has created awareness with respect to their demands for women’s equality.
It should be noted that Campaign activists in Isfahan and Rasht also distributed similar brochures to residents in their cities on the days leading up to March 8. These activists also engaged in discussions with citizens about their demands and the significance of March 8. The distribution of brochures in these cities as well as Tehran will continue for several days.
Campaign Updates: Mahboubeh Karami and Dorsa Sobhani Arrested; Warrant for Kaveh Kermanshahi Renewed; Mahsa Jazini and Nooshin Jafari Released
March 8, 2010
According to the One Million Signatures Campaign website, Change for Equality, several more activists faced arrest in the lead-up to International Women’s Day. Mahboubeh Karami was arrested on March 2 after three security officials arrived at her home at 11:00pm, searched the premises, and confiscated personal belongings. The arresting officials told her brother Moshen that the arrest was possibly connected to recent developments and her participation in protests, but Moshen explained that "Mahboubeh has spent much of the last year caring for her ill father." Karami has been arrested on four prior occasions, in connection with student protests in 1999, as well as for her peaceful presence on the sidelines of a June 2008 protest and as she attempted to visit the families of imprisoned activists in March 2009.
Dorsa Sobhani, a campaign activist in Sari, in northern Iran, was also arrested on Sunday, March 7. Twelve security agents were waiting for Sobhani to arrive at her home Sunday morning. They had previously threatened and interrogated her father, pressuring him to turn his daughter in the day before or face arrest of his wife and other daughter. Sobhani had been banned from continuing her studies because she is a follower of the Bahai’ faith, and in addition to her activism for women’s rights, she had been working with a group of student activists working to lift study bans, which are used to pressure university students to discontinue their human rights activism.
According to Kurdistan Human Rights Watch, the arrest warrant for campaign activist Kaveh Kermanshahi has been renewed for one month. Kermanshahi, a well known human rights defender who serves on the High Council of the Kurdish Human Rights Watch in addition to his involvement with the One Million Signatures campaign, has been in detention since his arrest by plain clothes security officials on February 3. He has only been allowed limited contact with his family while in detention, and his lawyer was informed of the extension of his arrest order when he went to the court to follow up on the case.
In other news, Change for Equality reports that journalists and women’s rights activists Mahsa Jazini and Nooshin Jafari have been released.
Somayeh Rashidi Released After 68 Days in Detention
February 26, 2010
Change for Equality: Somayeh Rashidi, an activist involved in the One Million Signatures Campaign was released on February 25, 2010 from Evin prison after spending 68 days in detention. Rashidi was arrested on December 20, 2009 after showing up in the revolutionary courts following a summons. A few days prior to her arrest, security officials came to the home of this women’s rights defender searching the premises and seizing her personal belongings. The lawyers representing Rashidi, Afrooz Maghzi and Zohreh Arzani had followed up her case with the Revolutionary Courts, but were not provided access to information in the case pending against their clients. It should be noted that Rashidi had been barred from continuing her education at the Masters level in the field of Women’s Studies, as a result of her activism on behalf of women.
Somayeh’s release was greeted with joy and excitement from her colleagues in the One Million Signatures, who showed up in large numbers in front of Evin Prison to greet her. See pictures of Somayeh’s release by visiting the photo blog of the Campaign.
Mahsa Jazini, Campain Member in Isfahan Arrested
February 8, 2010
Change for Equality: Mahsa Jazini, an activist with the One Million Signatures Campaign in Isfahan, a journalist and a student activist who had been banned from continuing her education, was arrested in Isfahan at 1:30am on February 6, 2010, at her home.
Stop the Ratification of Anti-Family Law by Iran’s Parliament
Change for Equality: Over 1200 women’s rights activists and equal rights defenders have signed a statement objecting to the draft "Family Protection" bill currently in Parliament, which they claim will erode women’s rights within the family even further. The statement issued by a coalition of women’s rights activists working to prevent the ratification of this draft bill, which they have dubbed the "Anti-Family Bill" appears below.
People of Iran, men and women
The Legal and Judicial Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of the Parliament, has recently re-introduced the so-called “Protection of Family Bill” to the parliament with changes to articles 23 and 25 and rushed it through parliament for ratification among the political chaos in the country. This bill is ineffective to support the institution of family and is far behind the bill that was ratified some 35 years ago in 1974.
Women are Driving Iran Toward Democracy
by Mahnaz Afkhami, former Minister of Women in Iran before 1979 and president of Women's Learning Partnership
The images from Iran in the last two weeks have stunned the world: hundreds of thousands of women and men marching peacefully, first in support of reformist candidates and later protesting the government's version of the results. Women played a prominent role at every level in this movement; in fact what unfolded in Iran would not have been possible without them. It is their quiet and thoughtful community organization, constituency building, message development, and pioneering use of the internet in recent years that accounts for the scope of the protest in Iran. Their grassroots mobilization has showed that more lies at the heart of democratization than burning tires and shouting slogans, and that a democracy requires more than ballot boxes and purple-inked fingers. And that accomplishment will prove consequential not only for Iran's future but also for the future of the whole Middle East.
As a student of the women's movement in my native land for nearly four decades and an intimate observer of their recent struggles, I can say with confidence that women's leading role in these events has been no accident. Iranian women began fighting for their rights over a century ago, at the time of the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, and have not stopped since. In the 1930s and 40s they formed their first effective associations. In the 1960s they struggled and succeeded in getting the right to vote and be elected and once in parliament they were able to replace archaic family laws with new progressive ones. In 1979, they joined the nation's drive for political freedom, but this time they did not get what they had fought for. The revolution swept Ayatollah Khomeini to power and in less than a month after his triumph, before there was a constitution or a government, the ayatollah annulled the new family law and decreed obligatory veiling and gender apartheid.
Support Iranian Women on their National Day of Solidarity
June 2, 2008
Iranian women's rights activists are calling for international support in observance of the June 12, 2006 demonstrations. Two years ago on this day, activists organized a peaceful protest demanding the revision of discriminatory laws against women in Iran. Seventy people were arrested during the gathering and continue to this day to be summoned, charged, arrested and sentenced for peaceful activism. June 12th has since been chosen by Iranian women’s rights activists as their national day of solidarity to object harmful actions which attempt to silence Iranian women.
| SUPPORT IRANIAN WOMEN |
|---|
|
Sign the "One Million Signatures" campaign petition calling for an end to discriminatory laws against women such as men's uncontested right to divorce, polygamy, and child custody.
|
Please read the following "Statement in Support of Iranian Women" and send your personal or organizational support for the women’s rights activists who are fighting for their basic human rights against all odds. Please send emails to wlp@learningpartnership.org and hadighaemi@iranhumanrights.org. For more information about the campaign efforts, please read below or visit the One Million Signatures website.
Launch of the "One Million Signatures" Campaign
February 13, 2007
Iranian women’s rights activists are fighting gender apartheid through the “One Million Signatures” campaign, which demands an end to discriminatory laws against women. At present, men have the sole right to divorce and except in special cases, the right to custody of children. One man’s testimony equals that of two women. A man’s worth is twice that of a woman in cases of murder or bodily injury. A daughter receives half a son’s inheritance. And certain positions, such as that of a judge, are closed to women. The campaign aims to collect one million signatures in support of granting women equal legal status with men. It is a continuation of Iranian women’s century-long struggle for gender equality.
Iran: Challenging the mullahs, one signature at a time
By Maura J. Casey, Editorial Observer
The New York Times
February 7, 2007
"Well-behaved women rarely make history," my favorite bumper sticker says. It surely applies to Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner whose relentless campaign against discrimination has enraged the mullahs for more than 25 years.
In a country where the law values a woman’s life at only half the price of a man’s, Ms. Ebadi will not be quiet, and she is urging other women to find their voices. Her newest effort is to help collect the signatures of one million Iranian women on a petition protesting their lack of legal rights.
