More women civil activists in Iran have been arrested and imprisoned in recent months.
Civil society organizations, trade unions, and human rights organizations are among the most organized and influential social organizations in free societies.
But the Mullahs’ regime prevents activists from forming and operating civil society organizations using tactics such as summoning, arresting, imprisoning, and banning free activity.
This strategy is amplified when it comes to women civil activists in Iran. Suppression, arrest, bans on activities, and imprisonment of women activists are among the primary goals of the regime’s repressive institutions.
Despite the spread of the Coronavirus in recent months, and despite the regime’s claims that it would reduce the number of new prisoners, women civil activists in Iran continue to be arrested, summoned, interrogated, and sentenced to prison terms. For example:
- Masoumeh Akbari, a civil rights activist, was sentenced to 6 years in prison on June 24. She was sentenced to prison terms for attending a March 8 rally and a sit-in in front of the Bar Association.
- Mojgan Kavousi, a Kurdish civil activist, was denied the right to leave to meet with family members because she had protested Nowshahr Prison’s lack of transparency about the publication of Covid-19 news in the women’s ward. On June 23, one of Kavousi’s relatives reported that prison officials had not allowed her to make any phone calls. The Kurdish writer was transferred to Evin Prison on June 22.
- Leila Hosseinzadeh, a student civil activist, was summoned to Evin Court on June 21. She was charged with “disturbing the peace in the prison by chanting slogans against the Islamic Republic” during an interrogation session.
- Somayeh Ramouz, Sakineh Parvaneh, Akram Rahimpour, and Zohreh Asadpour, all women civil activists in Iran, were summoned, detained, and sentenced to new terms of imprisonment this past May.
- Soha Mortezaii, a graduate of Tehran University with a master’s degree in political science and a former secretary of the Tehran University Trade Union Council was summoned on April 30 to serve her sentence.
- Shahla Delbina and her husband Sharif Saedpanah, a labor activist and member of the board of directors of the Free Trade Union of Iran, were summoned and interrogated on April 30.
- Ashraf (Roghayeh) Nafri, a mathematics student at Khajeh Nasir Tusi University and a Twitter activist, was arrested in Shahriar on April 26 and transferred to Qarchak Prison in Varamin.
- Nahid Khodajoo, a labor activist and member of the board of directors of the Free Trade Union of Iran, was summoned to the Evin Court on April 15 to serve her sentence.
- Narges Mansouri, a civil rights activist, was threatened via telephone and summoned on April 13. Security agents told her that she had to surrender to Evin Court by the morning of Tuesday, April 14.
- Nasrin Hassani, a journalist and women’s rights activist, was summoned to the Bojnourd city court on April 13. She was charged with “propaganda against the state.”