June 13, 2006

ROUNDUP: Women's rights gathering in Tehran

As already reported and verified by the BBC, Iranian women’s peaceful sit-in on June 12th 2006, was immediately broken up by the police in Tehran. Female police officers beat women’s rights campaigners with clubs and used pepper gas sprays to disperse their peaceful assembly.

This sit-in had been widely advertised online and was a peaceful plea to the Iranian government to change its unequal gender laws, as follows:

• Abolition of polygamy
• The right of divorce by women (currently only men have such a right)
• Joint custody of children for women and men
• Equal rights in marriage
• Increasing the minimum legal age for girls to 18
• Equal rights for women as witnesses

The protest was initiated by a coalition of women's rights activists. Approximately 2000 people the signed the petition on behalf of this peaceful protest.

The Women’s Cultural Centre provided this morning, via e-mail, the following names as those who have been arrested by the authorities:

* Delaram Ali
* Zilah Bani-Yaghob
* Bahman Ahmadi Amuee
* Farahnaz Sharifi
* Shahla Ehtesari

The BBC report adds another 25 persons to the above as having been arrested, and names the following activists as having been arrested:

* Ali Akbar Musavi Khoeeni
* Samira Sadri
* Bahareh Hedayat
* Atefeh Yusefi

The Women’s Cultural Centre has asked for national and international support for its peaceful and rightful demands and the release of all the arrested activists.

Sincerely,

Golbarg Bashi
New York

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