Iran: Women human rights defender Shadi Sadr arrested

Source: 
WLUML Networkers
WLUML is deeply concerned to learn that our colleague and friend, Ms. Shadi Sadr, has been arrested by plainclothes officers in Iran.
Online sources, including Iran Emrooz and Twitter, have reported that around 11:30 this morning, Friday 17 July 2009, our colleague and friend, Shadi Sadr, was abducted by a group of unknown men in civilian clothes (probably security forces) while she was walking to the Friday Prayer sermon. Apparently her friends tried to pull her away from her abducters but they were unable to do so. She was forced into a car and taken away.
Ms. Sadr is a human rights lawyer who especially defends the rights of women in Iran. She is also a Council member of WLUML, as well as part of the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign and Meydaan.

Friends in Iran report "...the regime has become very brutal over the past weeks, and the numbers of activists, journalists and intellectuals who are under arrest and in jail has increased exponentially. More trouble is expected today at the Friday prayer sermon, which Moussavi will also be attending."

Others report that Ms. Sadr was also "hit badly and dragged so badly that her scarf and manteau was removed from her".

Her abductors did not show any identity cards or warrants. Her friends and colleagues who witnessed the kidnapping say they tried to intervene but were met with violent force and Sadr was dragged away. They also report of another car (reported as a Mercedes) acting as back up for the Peugeot. As of yet, it is not clear where she has been taken or who has arrested her.

17 July 2009

Source: WLUML Networkers