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Monday 2 February 2009

AFP: Iran arrests women's rights campaigner: report






TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran has arrested a women's rights activist involved in an award-winning campaign that seeks changes to laws deemed unfair to women, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Security officials arrested Nafiseh Azad on Saturday in the Darakeh mountains north of Tehran while she was collecting signatures for the campaign's petition, the Sarmayeh newspaper said. It identified Azad as an activist involved with the "One Million Signatures" campaign, a grassroot initiative launched two years ago calling for equal rights for women in marriage, divorce and inheritance among other things.
Over the past year, Iran has arrested several women for their involvement in the campaign, which is backed by Iran's Nobel peace laureate, the human rights campaigner and lawyer Shirin Ebadi.
Last month, the campaign was given the Simone de Beauvoir Award, established in memory of the French feminist theorist and writer, for promoting women's rights.

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