Further Attempts to Silence the Campaign: Activist Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani Facing Charges of Propaganda and Illegal Assembly

September 23, 2010

Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani, a prominent women’s rights activist and founding member of the One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality, was brought into Evin Prison Court on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, interrogated for several hours, charged with "propagation activities against the regime through: a) writing and publishing content against the regime on the Feminist School* website, and b) participation in the illegal gatherings after the 2009 elections," and then released to a custodian until her trial. Khorasani’s questioning is only the most recent in a series of moves by the Iranian government specifically targeting One Million Signatures campaign members for persecution. The One Million Signatures campaign has always thrived on its diverse and decentralized model of mobilization, bringing together both seasoned activists and youth across demographic and political lines. Over 50 campaign members have been arrested since the campaign’s inception, but recent moves by the judiciary have targeted campaign members whose efforts are perceived to have widespread national and international influence.

More and more women’s rights activists, including Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, Parvin Ardalan, Shadi Sadr, and Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, have been forced to leave the country, and those remaining are facing serious threats to their security as part of a systematic effort to permanently silence those seeking gender justice. Campaign member and journalist Shiva Nazar Ahari stood trial earlier this month on charges of "propaganda against the regime" and moharebeh, and this week was sentenced to six years in prison in exile and 76 lashes. Nasrin Soutoudeh, a lawyer and longtime One Million Signatures Campaign member who has represented numerous campaign activists facing trial, was herself arrested and taken to Evin Prison on September 4, the day of Nazar Ahari’s trial, on charges of "propaganda against the state” and “conspiracy to disturb order."

Iran’s women’s rights defenders—from the highest profile activists down to the grassroots—are facing a severe human rights crisis. While they protest peacefully to raise awareness and reform discriminatory laws, they are being prosecuted with a vigor that would instead suggest they have committed violent acts against the state. Membership in the One Million Signatures campaign and other women’s rights networks has become a criminal act in the eyes of the regime, and we are deeply concerned for the safety and well-being of all of its members as these most recent moves by the judiciary signal an intention to continue to intensify clampdowns on the campaign at all levels.

∗ Khorasani is a founding editor of the website The Feminist School, which was recently blocked for the fifteenth time.