- 30 Apr 2007, 03:16
#10186
Beirut, Lebanon- Iranian police shoved and kicked them, loaded them into a curtained minibus and drove them away. Hours later, at the gates of Evin prison, they were blindfolded and forced to wear all-enveloping chadors and then were interrogated through the night.
All 31 were women - activists accused of receiving foreign funds to stir up dissent in Iran. But their real crime, says Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, was gathering peacefully outside Tehran's Revolutionary Court in support of five fellow activists on trial for demanding changes in laws that discriminate against women.
During her 15 days in prison, "I tried to convince them that asking for our rights had nothing to do with the enemy," Abbasgholizadeh told The Associated Press by telephone from Tehran. "But they insisted that foreign governments were exploiting our cause."
The March 4 arrests highlight how women's rights, which were making some advances under the reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami, are being rolled back by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who succeeded him in August 2005.
Activists say that while world attention has focused on the West's standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, the abuses of women's rights have intensified, using fear of a U.S. attack as a pretext.
Over the past 10 months, security forces have "become more and more aggressive even as women's actions have become more peaceful and tame," said Jila Baniyaghoub, an activist who also has spent time in jail.
"By tightening the noose on us, they are trying to warn us that they will not tolerate even the mildest criticism," she said.
Iranian authorities are reluctant to answer specific questions about the treatment of women. Several officials and lawmakers refused to be interviewed.
But Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei recently pointed a finger at women activists when he claimed that "the enemy's new strategy is to finance and organize various groups under the cover of women's or student movements."
The aim, he told a state news agency, is to depict the government as incompetent and to turn people against it.
Abbasgholizadeh, 48, is a divorced mother of two daughters, and her story highlights her change of fortune since the days when Khatami was president and reformists were gaining influence in Iran. Then she had Khatami's ear through the Center for Women's Participation, a government office set up to promote women's rights, and wrote a report for the president on the state of women in Iran.
One of Ahmadinejad's first actions was to replace the office with one called "the Center for Women and Family Affairs" - a renaming that seems to reflect his conviction that a woman's place is primarily in the home.
Under Ahmadinejad, Web access has been curbed, almost all liberal newspapers have been shut, and activists say they are under closer surveillance and often summoned for questioning.
The women say they have borne the brunt of the onslaught.
Sunday, April 29, 2007 Scheherezade FaramarziAssociated Press
All 31 were women - activists accused of receiving foreign funds to stir up dissent in Iran. But their real crime, says Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, was gathering peacefully outside Tehran's Revolutionary Court in support of five fellow activists on trial for demanding changes in laws that discriminate against women.
During her 15 days in prison, "I tried to convince them that asking for our rights had nothing to do with the enemy," Abbasgholizadeh told The Associated Press by telephone from Tehran. "But they insisted that foreign governments were exploiting our cause."
The March 4 arrests highlight how women's rights, which were making some advances under the reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami, are being rolled back by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who succeeded him in August 2005.
Activists say that while world attention has focused on the West's standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, the abuses of women's rights have intensified, using fear of a U.S. attack as a pretext.
Over the past 10 months, security forces have "become more and more aggressive even as women's actions have become more peaceful and tame," said Jila Baniyaghoub, an activist who also has spent time in jail.
"By tightening the noose on us, they are trying to warn us that they will not tolerate even the mildest criticism," she said.
Iranian authorities are reluctant to answer specific questions about the treatment of women. Several officials and lawmakers refused to be interviewed.
But Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei recently pointed a finger at women activists when he claimed that "the enemy's new strategy is to finance and organize various groups under the cover of women's or student movements."
The aim, he told a state news agency, is to depict the government as incompetent and to turn people against it.
Abbasgholizadeh, 48, is a divorced mother of two daughters, and her story highlights her change of fortune since the days when Khatami was president and reformists were gaining influence in Iran. Then she had Khatami's ear through the Center for Women's Participation, a government office set up to promote women's rights, and wrote a report for the president on the state of women in Iran.
One of Ahmadinejad's first actions was to replace the office with one called "the Center for Women and Family Affairs" - a renaming that seems to reflect his conviction that a woman's place is primarily in the home.
Under Ahmadinejad, Web access has been curbed, almost all liberal newspapers have been shut, and activists say they are under closer surveillance and often summoned for questioning.
The women say they have borne the brunt of the onslaught.
Sunday, April 29, 2007 Scheherezade FaramarziAssociated Press
How does he, whose guardian is Allah, get perished? And how can he, who is being pursued by Allah, get salvation? (Imam Mohammad Taqi 
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- By BatoolM