IRAN: Human Rights Lawyer Shadi Sadr Reportedly Arrested

Prominent lawyer, women's rights activist and journalist Shadi Sadr was arrested by plainclothes policemen on her way to Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's much-anticipated Friday sermon, according to several reformist websites.

The activist group blog Mothers of Laleh reported that Sadr was walking with several other female activists when she was approached by individuals in civilian dress who refused to show a warrant before forcing her into a waiting car.

Conflicting reports say she called her husband to ask for a computer password or a cellphone personal identification number, but her whereabouts are still unknown.

Sadr, who also edits the Farsi news website womeniniran.com, was arrested and held for two weeks in 2007. She has clashed with authorities numerous times over her outspoken stance on women's rights and capital punishment.

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Women's Learning Partnership

http://www.learningpartnership.org/en/node/657

IRANIAN WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST SHADI SADR BEATEN, ARRESTED & DISAPPEARED

July 17, 2009

Shadi Sadr, a lawyer and prominent women's rights activist working with
the One Million Signatures Campaign, was arrested today by plain clothes
security officers and taken to an undisclosed location. The men pulled
her into a car as she walked along a busy road, and beat her as she
struggled to escape.

Ms. Sadr, a journalist, member of Meydaan (Women's Field), director of
Raahi (legal advice center for women), and founder of Zanan-e Iran
(Women of Iran--the first website dedicated to the work of Iranian
women's rights activists), has written extensively about Iranian women
and their legal rights.

Ms. Sadr's violent arrest marks an escalation in attacks against human
rights activists by the Iranian government since demonstrations
protesting Iran's disputed presidential election results. It follows
arrests of other human rights defenders, social justice activists, and
journalists. Numerous activists and protestors have disappeared or been
arrested, and reports from inside Iran indicate that hundreds more
protestors have been killed than government reports suggest. Many
families are unable to locate their loved ones, searching through
hospitals, photographs of corpses, police stations, prisons, and
inquiring at the Revolutionary Court.

WLP is gravely concerned for the safety of Shadi Sadr and women's rights
activists and citizens who have been peacefully speaking out for their
basic rights. We are especially concerned about the mounting violence
against women by state agents. The murder of 26 year old Neda
Agha-Soltani during the initial wave of protests brought the world's
attention to the danger that innocent women are facing as they stand up
for their civil rights. Now we have learned of the apparent murder of
28 year old Taraneh Mousavi after she was brutally attacked.

The recent political protests have brought on increased persecution of
women's rights activists, who have been regularly arrested and harassed
since 2006 for peacefully advocating for their equal rights before the
law. They have faced charges such as "acting against the national
security of the state," "propaganda against the state," and "disrupting
public opinion" and, most recently, for membership in the One Million
Signatures campaign itself. Many are serving suspended sentences, and
face regular harassment and persecution by the government.

We call upon the women's rights community and all human rights activists
and organizations to speak out in defense of Shadi Sadr and all those
who are being unjustly persecuted.

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