Individuals at Risk

Dear Friends,

I am happy to announce that two Iranian women's rights activists were released on bail on March 19!  They are likely to face trial in the future, possibly on charges including "disturbing public order" and "acting against state security", but Amnesty International currently has no information as to whether they have yet been formally charged with any offence. They had been held in solitary confinement between 6 and 15 March. For more information please see the final update to the Urgent_Action_52.pdf.

We have also just received information that Nasser Zarafshan, a lawyer and human rights defender, was released from Evin Prison in Tehran on 15 March.  Hehad been sentenced to five years' imprisonment on 19 March 2002, after a secret trial before a military court. He was tried because of his role in representing the families of two political activists murdered in November 1998, during a series of killings which came to be known in Iran as the "serial murders".

While he was in custody, Nasser Zarafshan's health deteriorated and he was not immediately afforded adequate medical treatment. He suffered from a chronic kidney condition which required specialist treatment outside the prison.  Nasser Zarafshan is reportedly now in good health, and has expressed his gratitude to Amnesty International and all those who have campaigned for his release. He plans to renew his membership of the Bar Association in Tehran and to reopen his office.

And in Rwanda, Idesbald Byabuze Katabaruka, a  law professor from Democratic Republic of Congo, was released from Kigali Central Prison, where he was being held for "threatening state security" and "discrimination and sectarianism". The charges have been dropped and legal proceedings against him have been halted.   He has safely returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo, but the Rwandan authorities have banned him from ever returning to the country.

Idesbald Byabuze Katabaruka was arrested on 16 February, and charged on 23 February. The Rwandan public prosecutor issued the charges in relation to several public documents which Idesbald Byabuze Katabaruka had allegedly written or co-authored, including an article entitled Alerte Rwanda ("Rwanda Warning"). The article, published on an African current affairs website in June 2005, was an overview of human rights concerns in Rwanda. It was highly critical of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front.

We would like to express our gratitude to all Urgent Action activists who took action and secured release of these individuals.  Your appeals bring justice and freedom to men and women who put their own lives on the line to defend fundemental rights for people in their countries. 

Many thanks!

Tanya

UA team

On Sunday, March 4, thirty-three Iranian women's rights activists were arrested during a protest in the capital of Iran, Tehran. They were arrested outside of the Tehran Revolutionary Court while protesting the trial of five women charged in connection with a demonstration held on 12 June 2006 to demand equal rights for women under the law in Iran. As of now, all but two of the 33 women have been released. Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Shadi Sadr remain in detention, and have been accused of organizing the protest. Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association.  

Iranian activists for women's rights have been fighting to end discriminatory laws against women, particularly by promoting the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Campaign for Equality.

Women in Iran are placed in a subordinate position due to the legal discrimination, such as the discriminatory provisions in the Civil and Penal Code.  Iranian laws discriminate against women in all aspects of life; in matters of sexuality, marriage, polygamy, divorce, repudiation, alimony, custody and guardianship of children, and inheritance. Currently, women are excluded from running for Presidential office, they do not possess equal rights in divorce, after divorce they can only have custody of their children until the age of seven, and blood money for a murdered woman is half of the amount for a man. Many requests by women parliamentarians for a reform on the discriminatory laws have been rejected by the Council of Guardians, who proclaimed them to be incompatible with Shari'a law.

The arrests of women's rights activists on March 4 demonstrate that the Iranian government is not willing to respect women's right to be equal with men in legal, political, and social spheres of life. Irene Khan, Amnesty International's Secretary General commented that "rather than arresting peaceful demonstrators, the Iranian authorities should be taking seriously women's demands for equality before the law and addressing discrimination against women wherever it exists in the Iranian legal system. We worry that the women detained yesterday may be kept in detention until after 8 March, a day on which they were planning to campaign for their internationally recognized right to equality."

Take action to demand the release of two women's rights activists and to defend women's rights in Iran!

Best,

Kara Shure

UA intern