IMHRO: the Iranian government should immediately release Kurdish women’s rights activist: Ronak Safarzadeh

Iranian Minorities’ Human Rights Organisation (IMHRO)

Ref.IMHRO.51

31/03/2009

In October 2007, a Kurdish women’s rights and human rights activist, Ronak Safarzadeh, was arrested after attending a meeting in the city of Sanandaj to commemorate the International Day of the Child where she also gathered signatures in support of the Campaign for Equality[1].

The next day, the security service raided her home and arrested her. Since that time, she has remained in prison. Ronak is a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign and a women’s rights activist, who campaigns for the equality of women and their rights in Iran.

Sadly, Ronak has not been allowed any contact with her family. Moreover, officials will not provide her family with any information about her. Her family does not even know where she is or anything about what is happening to her, although they learned in this past week that her arrest order was renewed and that she has not been provided with an attorney[2].

IMHRO condemns this treatment of women’s rights and human rights activist Ronak Safarzadeh and calls for her immediate release.

Background of women’s rights in Iran

Following the 1979 revolution in Iran, women were among the first to be suppressed. The Iranian government ordered the retirement of most female government staff, including army and police officers. In minority areas, which traditionally have been based on shame culture, these new government policies opened the way for huge increases in “honour killings”, forced marriages and further repression.

Moreover, most human rights activists and intellectuals had to leave the country because of their work and beliefs. Of those who remained in Iran, many have been arrested and some have even been raped and executed in prison.

In recent years, a new movement of women’s rights activists has started in Iran. However, the response of the Iranian government to women’s demands, like always, has been brutal. Most activists, after spending a few years in prison, have been banned from higher education and employment.

Action

Please write to one or more of the following and ask them to put pressure on the Iranian government to release Ronak Safarzadeh. When you write, please express your concern for Ronak Safarzadeh and ask the Iranian authorities to drop all the charges against her.

Secretary General United Nations
The Honourable Ban Ki-moonUnited Nations Headquarters,
Room S-3800,
New York, NY 10017,
USA

Supreme Leader of Iran
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei,
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
E-mail via web site
http://www.leader.ir/

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Ms. Navanethem (Navi) Pillay
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland

Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
E-mail via web site
http://www.president.ir/en/

European Parliament Human Rights Committee
Ms Hélène FLAUTRE
Bureau d'Hélène Flautre au Parlement Européen, 8G130, rue Wierz, B-1049, Bruxelles,
Belgique

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave
South of Serah-e Jomhouri,
Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran

Sources

[1] http://www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against-women/support-and-defend-women-human-rights-activists/page.do?id=1381002

[2] http://womensspace.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/mother-of-ronak-safarzadeh-imprisoned-iranian-womens-activist-beaten-by-officials/