Iran

PEN American Center today named Nasrin Sotoudeh, a writer, lawyer, and leader of the women’s and children’s rights movement in Iran, as the recipient of its 2011 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Sotoudeh was arrested on September 4, 2010, and is now serving an 11-year sentence for her outspoken advocacy in defense of her clients arrested after the June 2009 presidential elections and interviews she gave to human rights organizations and media about their cases.

Iranian women are exposed to a variety of discriminations with charges ranging from gender-related and ethnic issues over religious and political beliefs to the defense of their own rights and those of underprivileged groups within the Islamic Republic of Iran.On the occasion of the 100th International Women’s Day we publish a list of imprisoned Iranian women to expose the extent of this discrimination. As to the prisoners of conscience the two most vulnerable groups are the religious minorities of Baha’i and Christians, both persecuted relentlessly as they pose a serious challenge to the autocratic Islamist system. With regards to ethnic discriminations members of the Kurd and Baluchi minorities are most endangered.

Other nations and the UN should speak out against a wave of executions in Iran, the Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi and six human rights organizations said today. Shirin Ebadi and the human rights groups called on the Iranian Judiciary and Parliament to institute an immediate moratorium on all executions. At least 86 people have been executed since the start of 2011, according to information received by the six organizations. The groups are Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reporters without Borders, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, the International Federation for Human Rights, and its affiliate, the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights. At least eight of those executed in January were political prisoners, convicted of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) for participating in demonstrations, or for their alleged links to opposition groups.

Pourquoi les musulmans ne peuvent-ils développer d'autres formes de protestation pour défendre l'honneur d'Aïcha [épouse du Prophète, elle est considérée comme la "Mère des croyants" par les sunnites, mais honnie par les chiites en raison de son attitude hostile à Ali, le quatrième calife, considéré comme le père du chiisme] ? La défense d'Aïcha justifie-t-elle vraiment l'explosion de tensions confessionnelles qui en est découlée au Koweït et ailleurs ? Au lieu de préparer le terrain pour des agressions et attentats entre sunnites et chiites dans certains pays de la région, on aurait pu se saisir de l'occasion pour attirer l'attention sur le sort des Aïcha contemporaines. Ainsi, l'Aïcha afghane, dont le magazine Time a fait sa fameuse une et à laquelle sa famille a coupé le nez. Dans ce même pays, les talibans mènent une guerre sans merci contre l'enseignement des filles : ils ont détruit, selon différents rapports, des dizaines d'écoles et ont menacé les familles qui continuaient de vouloir donner une éducation scolaire à leurs filles.