NCRI – February 27, 2009 – The misogynist mullahs’ regime has increased its suppression of women in a bid to prevent the rise of protest acts by Iranian women.
In the city of Sanandaj, the regime’s agents flogged two female labour activists, identified as Sousan Zazani and Shiva Kheirabadi. They were arrested on allegations of participating in Labour Day demonstrations.
The insolence towards these women has led to widespread anger among the people of Sanandaj against the clerical regime.
During the past several days, in the course of the courageous student protests at Tehran’s Polytechnic University, at least 30 female students have been arrested and taken to prison by the regime. There is no information regarding the fate of some of the detainees.
Women activists and female students in various Iranian universities, who are at the forefront of anti-government protests, have always been subjected to suppression by the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and other oppressive organs. Over the three decades of the mullahs’ rule, female students have been the subject of suspension from education, expulsion from university, arrest, and pressure and torture in the regime’s dungeons.
Mistreatment of and disrespect towards Iranian women under the pretext of “mal-veiling” is also ongoing in various Iranian cities. In Gorgan and Qazvin, the regime’s agents have subjected thousands of women to public interrogations under the pretext of “the Guidance and Warning Scheme.” On February 21, 2009, state-run media outlets reported that the first phase of this suppressive measure has been completed.
Ms. Sarvnaz Chitsaz, Chair of the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, condemned the suppression and intimidation of women especially on the brink of the International Women’s Day, and drew the attention of international women’s rights and human rights organizations to the violation of women’s rights in Iran. To that end, she called on all international human rights organizations as well as all international women’s rights organizations and associations to adopt immediate and binding measures aimed at guaranteeing respect for the minimum human rights of Iranian women.
Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 27, 2009
