JURIST - Paper Chase: Iran charges women's rights activists following Tehran demonstration

[JURIST] Iran [JURIST news archive] has charged leading women's rights activists Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani and Parvin Ardalan [Iranian.com profile] with acting "against national security" in connection with a June 12 women's rights demonstration [AP report; Kosof.com photos] that turned violent when police detained more than 70 people in central Tehran. Both women have reportedly been freed on bail. Many protesters alleged that the police beat some demonstrators, who were protesting Iran's "discriminatory" laws against women. Islamic law in Iran requires a woman to have a male guardian's permission to work or travel, restricts women from becoming judges, and weighs a man's testimony in court twice as much as the testimony from a woman.

The protest [Direland blog post] demanded equal rights for women and sought to have a law allowing polygamy for men nullified. Protesters chanted "we are women, we are human, but we don't have any rights" at the demonstration, which lasted only an hour. Police attacked protesters at a March women's rights demonstration as well, beating the protesters of both sexes with their batons. Radio Free Europe has more.

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