Iran is reported to have freed at least 11 political prisoners, including noted human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.

The eight women and three men are said to also include the reformist politician Mohsen Aminzadeh.

The move comes just days before Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani visits New York for the UN General Assembly.

In another development, Mr Rouhani described a recent letter sent to him by US President Barack Obama as "positive and constructive".

In an interview with US broadcaster NBC, he said he had full authority to negotiate a deal over Tehran's controversial uranium enrichment programme with the West.

Twenty two years and six months is probably enough time for India to think it has policed memories and fostered institutionalized forgetfulness in Indian administered Kashmir.But such efforts have proven counterproductive.

Recently, women in three Kilinochchi villages were subjected to coercive population control.

This incident occurred on August 31, 2013 – at the Veravil government divisional hospital in Kilinochchi.  The affected women reside in Valaipaddu, Veravil and Keranchi; all three are coastal villages.

INTRODUCTION

In some countries, power comes with age, but not in Afghanistan where wholesale denial of rights and opportunities are imposed against women throughout their life spectrum. With a society that supports gender-based oppression and an economy that is held hostage by armed conflict, corruption, weak human resources, and wayward politics, Afghanistan may be the worst place in the world for women to grow old.