Summons Issued for 9 Women’s Rights Activists
The Evin Prosecutor’s Office has summoned several activists in the field of women’s rights in Iran. The lawyer of these individuals reports that they have been called to provide explanations. The names of those summoned are not disclosed.
Amir Raisian, a lawyer, announced the issuance of summons for a number of women’s rights activists. The IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday, November 6 (15th of Aban), citing him: “This week, summons have been issued by the Evin Prosecutor’s Office for 9 activists in the field of women’s rights.” Amir Raisian noted that the number of those summoned could be higher.
The lawyer defending these activists said that there is little information about the reason for the summons, and the summons refers to “appearing to provide some explanations.”
The names of those summoned have not been disclosed. One of them, on condition of anonymity, told IRNA: “So far, 9 women’s rights activists have been summoned and are called to the prosecutor’s office on specified dates next week.”
The news of the new summons is being published as Hadi Omid, a lawyer and women’s rights activist who was arrested in early September 2018, was released on bail a few days ago.
Hadi Omid, along with Najmeh Vahedi and Rezvan Mohammadi, are among the activists who held training workshops to familiarize women and girls with the conditions of marriage contracts.
The charge against these three was announced as “attempting to undermine the foundations of the family.” Najmeh Vahedi is a sociologist and graduate of women’s studies, and Rezvan Mohammadi is a digital space activist in the field of gender equality.
Following the detention of these civil activists on September 10, 2018, a statement signed by more than 750 civil activists inside and outside Iran was published calling for their release. The statement stated that “IRGC intelligence” had detained them and they were held in Ward 2A of the IRGC in Evin Prison.
The detention and summoning of civil activists in Iran has intensified in recent months. The arrest of human rights activists that began in June with the arrest of Nasrin Sotoudeh took on new dimensions with the detention of a number of lawyers who were pursuing cases of civil activists.
Abdolkarim Lahiji, a human rights lawyer and one of the founders of the Iranian Association for the Defense of Freedom and Human Rights, previously told Deutsche Welle: “Repression and detention in times of crisis are the only way the Islamic Republic knows. Now, like the past forty years, the Islamic Republic’s government—that is, the state and all state institutions under the Supreme Leader’s supervision—think they can contain the crisis by increasing the wave of repression.”
“Najmeh Vahedi Released on Bail”
On the evening of Tuesday, November 6, and shortly after the news of the summons of 9 women’s rights activists, Najmeh Vahedi’s brother announced her release on Twitter. Reza Vahedi wrote: “After 67 days of temporary detention, my sister Najmeh Vahedi has been released on bail.”
Beyond conducting training workshops on marriage contract conditions, Najmeh Vahedi has been active in efforts to address the overlooked economic value of women’s housework.
Source: DW
