Iran cracks down on women's rights activists

It arrested 30 protesters Sunday, but citizens say enforcement of social regulations is usually relaxed.

from the March 8, 2007 edition

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In the event last June, for which the women are standing trial, police broke up the protest with truncheons and arrested 70 women, all of whom have since been released. Other charges against the five include making "propaganda against the Islamic system," and taking part in an "illegal" demonstration.

Demonstrators Sunday carried signs pointing to articles in the Iranian Constitution that guarantee the right to peaceful protest. Activists said the arrests were made to preempt another gathering they had planned for Thursday.

"They are afraid of the women's movement, because there are some links between them and journalists, nongovernmental organizations, and they cooperate with [foreign] NGOs," says Isa Saharkhiz, a former editor and reformist.

The cash set aside by the US Congress to fund broadcasting into Iran and groups working against the Islamic Republic has complicated local efforts at political and social change – once the clarion call of Iran's reform movement.

The money "was the worst thing for all of the movements – women, students, and NGOs – they catch everyone, and say they are spies," says Mr. Saharkhiz. "We know that most of that money went to royalist groups and the Mujahideen-e Khalq," Iranian opposition that has several thousand militants under US guard in Iraq.

Women's groups voted late Tuesday to cancel the event on International Women's Day. Worldwide, hundreds of political rallies, business conferences, theater performances, and other events are planned for Thursday to honor women's advancement and to promote gender equality.

"We had planned to protest before the majlis [parliament]," says Fatemeh Farhanghah, an activist who was at the Sunday event, but was not arrested. "Because the police have gone to a more violent approach, we decided not to."

Esfan, a young man skiing at Dizin, north of Tehran, where restrictions have always been more relaxed, says government pressure is often sporadic. "It comes and it goes. They push hard, and then people will complain, and they don't want people to complain, so they back off.... They [maintain control] in other ways."

In a statement protesting the arrests, the main reformist party Musharekat also issued a warning: "If such a peaceful protest is cracked down on by security forces and restrictions are being imposed, in the near future this issue can transform into an uncontrollable social crisis."

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