At least 33 Iranian women activists were arrested yesterday during a peaceful protest in Tehran. The women are members of a group called Mourning Mothers, which was formed after the widely publicized death of Neda Agha-Soltan last summer. Members of the group are mothers of protestors who have been killed, detained, or are missing. According to the Straits Times, the women regularly gather in the park where they were arrested to protest, typically wearing black as a sign of mourning.
According to the Mourning Mothers website, an unidentified witness said, "They would not allow anyone to even sit on the benches or congregate...After about 70 mothers entered the park, security forces engaged them and started chasing them, grabbing them, and forcing them into police vans. They used a lot of violence and insults in the process," reported CNN.
Arrests continue in Iran against women's activists. In December, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi's sister; a professor in dentistry, Noushin Ebadi; Mansoureh Shojaee, a founder of the One Million Signatures campaign for women's equality in Iran; and Morteza Kazemian, a journalist, were arrested by Ministry of Intelligence agents. Somayeh Rashidi, also with the One Million Signatures Campaign, was also targeted with a search of her home and a summons to court.
The One Million Signatures Campaign, which seeks to collect one million signatures against the legal discrimination women face under Iranian law, has been particularly targeted. A number of activists associated with the campaign have been arrested and imprisoned in recent years, including American graduate student and feminist activist Esha Momeni.
Media Resources: CNN 1/10/10; Feminist Majority Foundation 1/11/10; Feminist Daily Newswire 12/14/09; Straits Times 11/10/10
6/18/2013 Supreme Court Strikes Down Proof of Citizenship Voter Requirements - On Monday, the United States Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship before being allowed register to vote.
In an opinion written [PDF] by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court ruled that the Arizona statute violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA, also known as the "Motor Voter Law") of 1993, which created a federal form that individuals can mail in to register to vote in federal elections. . . .
6/18/2013 Pakistani Women's University Bus, Hospital Bombed - A bus for a women's university in Pakistan and the hospital that treated victims from the blast were bombed on Saturday, killing 14 students and 24 others at the hospital.
The bus was transporting female students and teachers from Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University in Quetta, located in the southwestern part of Pakistan. . . .
6/18/2013 Taliban Attack In Afghan Capital As NATO Transfers Power - Yesterday, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) transferred responsibility for the country's security forces to the Afghan government after a bomb blast targeting a political official left three civilians dead in Kabul. . . .
