Iran: women’s activist wins human rights award

          
          8/9/2010 [ Iran: Women's Activist Wins Human
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          RadioFreeEurope
          RadioLiberty
          February 14, 2008
          Iran: Women's Activist Wins Human Rights Award
          byFarangis Najibullah
          PARVIN ARDALAN'S MOVEMENT HAS BECOME POPULAR WITH YOUNG WOM EN (KOSOOF.COM)
          PARVIN ARDALAN, A LEADING IRANIAN WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST, HAS WON THE PALME AWARD FOR HER WORK AND
          COMMITMENT TO HUMAN RIGHTS.
          kdalan is a founder and active member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, a movementthat aims to promote equal
          rights for women in Iranian society.
          The prize is named for former Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme and is awarded annuallyfor “outstanding achievements”
          bythose who activelypromote peace, equality, and security.
          kdalan's friends sayshe has dedicated heradu ltlifeto fighting forwomen's issues.kdalan was one ofthe first members of
          the Women's Cultural Center, the first-ever Iranian nongovernmental organization to advocate women's rights.
          The 37-year-old, Tehran-based journalist and author has previously worked for women's publications such as “Zanestan”
          and “The Feminist Tribune of Iran” before both of those online magazines --as well as ‘Women's Cultural Center”--were
          shutdown by Iranian authorities in 2007.
          Ardalan,who is currentlyan editorof”Change for Equality,”contributes to manypublications in Iran --including the most
          influential women's magazine, “Zanan,” which was suspended last month for allegedly”painting a gloomypicture” of Iran.
          In her writings, kdalan focuses on women's issues and the challenges that Iranian women face in their everyday lives.
          kdalan became an active supporter of women's rights when the One Million Signatures Campaign was set up by Iranian
          feminists in Aigust 2006.
          The campaign members aim to change what they call “discriminatory laws against women ,“ such as different inheritance
          and child custody rights for women and men as well as unequal rights after a divorce.
          One Million Signatures
          To realize these changes, Parvin and other members of the feminist movement have been tr ng to collect 1 million
          signatures from Iranians to urge the country% parliament to change the “discriminatorylaws.”
          kdalan told RFE/RL's Radio Farda thatthe campaign members are not expecting thattheir campaign will lead to changes in
          the discriminatorylaws anytime soon. But she added that”so far we have succeeded in changing Iranian people's attitude
          toward such laws.”
          ‘We haven't achieved too manyresults. But we were able to give this issue a bigger profile in society, and succeeded in
          bringing the societsfs attention -- both men and women's attention --to the factthat promoting women's rights could well be a
          part of the wider promotion of democratic values,” kdalan said.
          Members of the campaign and other supporters -- most of them young women in their 20s -- spread their message through
          the Internetand print media as well as in face to face meetings with people all overthe country--and itcomes with a heavy
          price for the feminists.
          The campaign claims itis a social movementthat has “nothing against religion or the Iranian political system.”
          Yet at least 40 of its members have been detained bythe police and intelligence services, and most ofthem have been
          charged with spreading propaganda against the state.
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          8/9/2010 [ Iran: Women's Activist Wins Human
          Maryam Khosenkhah and Jelveh Javaheri are among the campaign members who have been arrested in Tehran since
          October2007. Theyhave been subsequenilyreleased on large bails and are still awaiting a court decision.
          Iranian intelligence services persecute the campaign supporters all over the country. Two young feminists, Ronak Safarzadeh
          and Hana Abdi, were arrested last fall bythe local office of the Intelligence and Security Ministry in Kurdistan Province. They
          are still in prison.
          Parvin Ardalan says that during such a difficult period --when women's rights activists are being persecuted and feminist
          publications are being shutdown in Iran--she believes that the OlofPalme Award will give the One Million Signatures
          Campaign greater recognition and provide hope to its activists inside Iran and its supporters outside the country.
          (Radio Farda correspondent Farm Ass emi con tributed to this report.)
          Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty© 2010 RFE/RL, Inc. AJI Rights Reserved.
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