Arrests of women activists continues in Iran as another women’s rights activist, Rezvaneh Mohammadi was arrested by Iran’s security agents.
A close friend of Ms. Mohammadi said she had been arrested by security forces on Monday, September 3, 2018, for unknown reasons.
A new wave of arrests of women activists by Iran’s security agents has led to the detainment of Hoda Amid, a lawyer, and Najmeh Vahedi, a women’s rights activist, who were arrested in their homes in Tehran by the Iranian intelligence services.
On the morning of September 1, 2018, Hoda Amid, a lawyer and a women’s rights activist, was arrested at home in Tehran by security forces.
Najmeh Vahedi, another women’s rights activist and sociology graduate, was also arrested at the same time at her home in Tehran.
According to reports these two women’s rights activists held women’s rights educational training workshops in Iran.
Currently, there is no information available on the reasons for the arrests of women activists and the current situation of the female lawyer and women’s rights activist after their arrests.
Amnesty International issued a statement on September 3, 2018, warning that the arrests of lawyers and women’s rights activists in Iran signal intensifying crackdown on civil society.
The statement reads in part, “Human rights lawyer and women’s rights activist Hoda Amid was arrested at her home on 1 September, just a day after the arrests of human rights lawyers Payam Derafshan and Farokh Forouzan. Payam Derafshan and Farokh Forouzan were arrested on August 31, 2018, while visiting the home of another recently jailed lawyer, Arash Keykhosravi, in the city of Karaj, north-west of Tehran.
“Also, on September 1, women’s rights activist Najmeh Vahedi was arrested by the Intelligence Unit of the Revolutionary Guards at her home in Tehran.”
“These latest arrests are a blatant attempt to silence those advocating for human rights in Iran,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Amnesty International pointed out in its statement, “The arrests of human rights lawyers are part of an attempt by the authorities to prevent them from being able to defend their clients, who are often human rights defenders or individuals who face the death penalty, including for crimes committed as a child.
