WLUML/allies

Pakistan: Pakistani authorities have banned the satirical stage play "Burqavaganza" after Islamist MPs raised the issue in parliament.

The Ajoka Theatre company staged a satirical play, "Burqavaganza", in Lahore earlier this month using the image of the burqa as a metaphor for the double standards which exist in contemporary Pakistani society. Following protests from Islamist politicians, the play has now been banned.

Iran: More women's rights defenders summoned to the Revolutionary Court; two arrested

Fariba Davoudi Mohajer and Sussan Tahmasebi, two of the eleven women’s rights activists summoned by the Revolutionary Court, were sentenced to prison on April 18 for threatening “national security.” The two activists were organizers of the peaceful protest on June 12, 2006 and the “One Million Signatures” campaign demanding an end to discriminatory laws against women. Davoudi Mohajer, who was tried in absentia as she is currently abroad, was sentenced to one year in prison and three years suspended sentence. Tahmasebi was sentenced to six months in jail and one year suspended sentence. Their lawyers are appealing the sentences.

France: Un appel pour signer une pétition pour la reconnaissance des actes de barbarie dans le meurtre de Ghofrane.

Un appel pour signer une pétition: pour la reconnaissance des actes de barbarie dans le meurtre de Ghofrane.

UPDATE: Iran: All women's rights activists have been released although crackdown on Iranian civil society escalates

Women's human rights defenders released on exorbitant bail, but repression of civil society continues.

UPDATE: Iran: Last two women human rights defenders released from prison on heavy bail

Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh Abasgholizadeh were released from prison on Monday. However, the charges against the two women have not been dropped and the bail has been set at an exorbitant rate.

UPDATE: Iran: Offices of two remaining prisoners shut down by the Revolutionary Court

The NGO offices of Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Shadi Sadr, the two Iranian activists still imprisoned after women's peaceful demonstration in Tehran on 4 March, were closed down by the Revolutionary Court on Thursday evening.

UPDATE: Iran: Two women's rights defenders now in solitary confinement

Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh Abasgholizadeh have been arraigned, charged with being a "threat to national security," and remanded on March 11 by interrogators at Evin Prison, authorized by the Ministry of Intelligence of Iran.

UPDATE: Iran: All but three women activists freed

All but three of the 33 Iranian women's rights activists jailed on Sunday were freed Wednesday night, on the eve of International Women's Day, in exchange for a pledge not to demonstrate on 8 March.

UPDATE: Iran: Amnesty International joins in support of activists arrested in Tehran

Amnesty International today called for the immediate and unconditional release of over 30 women activists who were arrested on Sunday, 4 March while staging a peaceful demonstration in Tehran. The organization believes the arrests may be intended to deter activists from organizing events to mark International Women's Day on 8 March.

Iran: Campaign to Free Women's Rights Defenders

Dozens of women's rights defenders were arrested in Tehran on Saturday during a peaceful gathering in front of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran. The gathering was to protest the recent state pressures on women's rights defenders. Sign the petition condemning the arrest and detention of the women activists.