Iran: Award to Shadi Sadr for visual project documenting Iranian women’s history

I was informed yesterday that at the Movies that Matter Festival's Award Ceremony in the Hague on Wednesday 31 March, I was awarded the first Golden Butterfly, Amnesty International's A Matter of ACT Award (€5,000), for the most imposing and inspiring human rights defender or organisation. The award was for my work campaigning for women’s equal rights that is documented in the film, ‘Women in Shroud’. I am so pleased and honoured to have been selected amongst such prominent activists as Rebiya Kadeer and Somaly Mam. Unfortunately I was not able to attend the ceremony, so I would like to send a few words to the Movies that Matter Festival organisers, concerning human rights and the situation of women in Iran.

First of all, it is not only me that has the honour of receiving this prize: I believe it is for all activists of the “Stop Stoning Forever Campaign” – both those who appeared in the documentary film, Women in Shroud, and those who didn’t. We should all be in appreciation of those activists who have struggled hard to ban the Iranian Islamic Republic’s use of corporal punishments to control women’s bodies and minds. In Iranian society, because we have suffered from a lack of documentation of human rights violations, especially a record of the pain and suffering of millions of women whose rights were severely violated in the years 1979-89, I would like to allocate the prize money to a visual project documenting these violations, which have until now remained an unwritten and invisible part of women’s history. I know amount awarded will not be enough, but I hope it will provide a starting point.

By Shadi Sadr

For more information about the festival and the prize:
http://www.moviesthatmatterfestival.nl/english_index/nieuws_en/news/54
For more information about the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign:
http://www.stop-killing.org/node/884
Some information about “Women in Shroud” is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFnXTxLbZHo
Another documentary about the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign:
http://www.wluml.org/node/5691
For further information about how to apply, please contact me directly:
shadisadr[at]gmail.com