Iran: Women Activists Jailed, Teachers on the Street and War Whispers

nooshin.jpg Iranian women’s peaceful protest movement on Sunday was repressed violently by police and more than 32 activists, including several journalists and bloggers, were arrested.Thanks to Kosoof you can see some photos of these activists who got arrested. Iranian bloggers have provided details about what happened, photographs of those arrested and the reason for the protest.

Chronology of a Repression

Khorshidkhanoum briefs us of what happened:

50 of the women's rights movement activists were arrested in front of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.The security police forces attacked a peaceful gathering of women's rights activists that had taken place at 8:30 am in front of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran in objection to the recent governmental oppressions and the summoning of some of these activists. The police forces who used violence to scatter the crowd, arrested at least 21 of the protesters.

Nooshin Amhadi Khorasani, Parvin Ardalan, Shahla Entesari and Susan Tahmasebi—five prominent members of the women's rights movement—who had to attend their court hearing left the court session in support of their fellow activists. They, too, got arrested upon their departure from the court.

The blogger adds that the police officers hit Nahid Jafari's head against the police van and as a result of such violent actions, her teeth broke. The officers then refused to take her to the emergency room.

Azadeh Pourzand says the organizers of the two major current campaigns, Stop Stoning Forever, and One Million Signatures to Change the Discriminatory Law, have been among the women rights defenders by the National Security Police.

She called upon readers to sign a petition and ask judiciary authorities to liberate women activists. In this petition we read:

Your Excellency,We, the undersigned, are writing to you to express our great concern about the recent persecutions and prosecutions of the women’s rights defenders in Iran. We are especially dismayed at the news of the recent arrests of 38 women’s rights defenders on March 4, 2007, in Tehran while gathering in a peaceful protest in front of the Islamic Revolutionary Court.

Franaz who reports about this event from the beginning says that one of the arrested women was beaten by police and her tooth got broken [Fa].

Jomhour says Ahmadinejadism is against women's rights and again their demonstration was repressed. For this blogger it can be a warning for the March 8 demonstration to mark the International Women Day[Fa].

Omid Memarian reports an eye witness account in his blog. There we read:

in Zanane Solh (Women of Peace) website, an eyewitness who attended the protest has written her account of the events. “After picking up the placards, gradually uniformed and plain-clothes police force, one of whom was a woman, showed up. The police approached us and asked us to leave because your gathering does not have a permit. One of my friends said that according to the Constitution, peaceful gatherings don’t need permits. The police argued that your gathering disrupts traffic on Moallem Avenue. They attacked the protestors’ line.

Teachers Protest

teachers.jpg

This Saturday thousands of teachers demonstrated in front of Parliament in Tehran.Kossof, a leading photo blogger has taken photos of this event.

According to Kargar blog about 6,000 teachers protested and asked for better conditions and a raise in their salary[Fa].The blogger said speakers in this demonstration recalled that 700,000 teachers live in poverty in Iran. Ahmadinejad politics were criticised and teachers threatened that they would launch a strike.

War Whispers

Interior problems such as repression and economic issues can become worse if a war between Iran and the US breaks out. There are many Iranians and Americans who do not trust in US government's declaration that there is no war plan against Iran.

Nikahang, a leading cartoonist and blogger, shows this feeling in one of his cartoons seen here.

bush2.jpg

Forever Under Construction blog informs us that not only Iranian but many Americans are worried about a war between the US and Iran.The blogger says that peace is peoples’ preference, war happens against all the common folk wisdom. It is a decision often by a small number of elites, for them; and for profit. The average person will still buy the idea, enlist and be hopeful that this is the one which “ends all wars”.

Some of the strongest antiwar literature comes from the military itself, such as Major General Smedley D. Butler. I came across the VoteVets.org, founded by a group of Iraq War veterans. Whoever likes reading, there is plenty of interesting material in their website’s Newsroom. They seem to raise questions about principles for a change: War is not the Answer.

Ahmad Shirzad a former reformist deputy in the Iranian parliament wrote that we should, in Iran, look who gets the profit and money from buying centrifuges and other nuclear materials[Fa]. He adds nuclear investments have not been transparent and parliament did not know about it at least for 24 years. He adds nuclear technology is attractive for Third World countries because it is considered as a short cut to development. Shirzad says that countries which harbour this dream, think they can catch up with developed countries overnight.

5 comments

  • […] Protesting women arrested in Tehran Published March 5th, 2007 CSW , media coverage , UN , blogs What timing. 50 protestors at a women’s march were roughed and arrested yesterday in Tehran. Read the excellent account on Global Voices. You can see their photos here. If you haven’t already, please sign the “One Million Signatures” petition of behalf of women in Iran. We need to let them know the world is watching. […]

  • […] According to a report on Global Voices Online a recent peaceful protest movement by Iranian women activists was violently repressed by police resulting in activists, including several journalist and bloggers, being arrested. 50 of the women’s rights movement activists were arrested in front of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. The security police forces attacked a peaceful gathering of women’s rights activists that had taken place at 8:30 am in front of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran in objection to the recent governmental oppressions and the summoning of some of these activists. The police forces who used violence to scatter the crowd, arrested at least 21 of the protesters. […]

  • Most people who object to an Iran War make heroic assumptions.They believe there is an effective appeal they can make to public opinion or to the governments involved.They assume these bodies have the power to resolve the situation.
    They do not. Here is a brief review.
    GWB WON

    The Bush administration may have bankrupted our country and quashed our civil liberties, but there is a plus side to this. Geopolitically, Russia and France have lost some influence in Asian affairs. Japan and China must come to the USA to bargain for oil.
    The aged Cold Warriors with the White House have managed a coup impossible when there were two superpowers.
    Human rights advocates such as I notwithstanding, they executed the dated Statue of Liberty play to bamboozle our defenses. MKULTRA [CIA] did the brainwashing on the US public. The old wiseguys used the tactics right out of the CONINTEL playbook.
    They ran it by the Congress the media and the public without a hand being laid on them.
    Contrary to popuar opinion, GWB is on the verge of winning the war. The Iraqi Parliament enacts a law that privatizes the oil business. The big oil companies will control prices and production to gain at least 75% of gross revenue as pure profit.

    My point is the GWB cabal did it without the advice and consent of the Congress. Those dummies are still haggling about troop withdrawals etc. To protect our oil interests and permanent bases, the US will continue her occupation for some time..
    The Military Commissions Act will silence serious objectors.
    Corruption theft and human rights issues aside, the control of the Iraqi oil puts the US in a strong Asian position geopolitically.
    France and Russia failed to get a similar agreement with Saddam before the invasion. China and Japan must deal with us for oil.
    The big losers are Iran the terrorists and the Iraqi people.
    With GWB we have a slugger who ignored our instruction to take the three and oh pitch.
    George homered.
    Maybe we don’t like the nasty way he did it, but it has given us an early inning lead.

    Please forgive my Americanisms directed to that audience. The US public had no say in Iraq and this will continue with Iran.
    I have been urging the USA NOT to vaporize Iran.
    By the the same token,I would urge Iranians not to persecute anti-war activists.
    Violence is not the answer for anyone.

  • […] Accordng to Khorshidkhanoum, Eight women’s rights activists who were arrested in the peaceful demonstrations in front of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court Sunday were released today.The 24 women who are still in section 209 of Evin Prison have started a hunger strike in protest to their illegal confinement. Hamid Tehrani […]

  • […] Iranian female rights activists have launched several initiatives such as the “One Million Signatures Demanding Change to Discriminatory Laws Campaign and they have organized peaceful protest movements against discrimination. Some of these women were arrested and sent to jail for a few weeks or days. Iranian women continue their struggle for justice and freedom.Thanks to Kosoof, a leading photoblogger, we can discover some important moments of this movement in photographs from the last two years. Here are five photos chosen to display that in the struggle there is no question of gender or age. We see old and young men and women taking part in the demonstrations as well as female police repressing women activists. […]

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