Subject: [fem-women2000 433] Iranian Women's Brief #26, Please Read and Forward
From: AIWUSA <aiwusa@aiwusa.org>
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 14:43:02 -0400
Seq: 433
Association of Iranian WomanU.S.A(AIWUSA) Iranian Women Brief # 26(special Edition) July 2000 Contact Person: Behjat Dehghan THOUSANDS OF WOMEN BLOCK ROAD IN DEMAND FOR BETTER LIVING CONDITIONS IRAN, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, 27 JUNE,2000 ISLAMSHAHR -Some 4,000 Iranian women burned tires and blocked a main road southwest of Tehran Tuesday in protest at poor living conditions, including a lack of water, gas and electricity, an AFP correspondent witnessed.The demonstration began when several hundredwomen from Shatareh, near Islamshahr, 20 miles from the capital, gathered on the highway shouting slogans of protest. The crowd quickly grew with men and young people of both sexes joining the women. They totally blocked the road, burning tires and paper. [Iran Zamin News Agency: Protesters chanted slogans against the Iranian regime's leaders. [In an attempt to disperse the crowd, the State Security Forces attacked the protesters and arrested a number of them. Faced with the protesters' stiff resistance, they did not have much success. [The Iranian Resistance's President-elect Maryam Rajavi hailed the defiant women in south Tehran and called on the people of Tehran, especially the young people, to expand their protests and demonstrations and rush to the aid of the impoverished people of this region.] ***************************************************** RIOT POLICE CRACKDOWNS ISLAMSHAHR PROTEST, BBC WORLD SERVICE, JUNE 27,2000 TEHRAN - .The protests are part of a rise in social unrest in Iran, with demonstrations being seen against unpaid wages, joblessness and bad basic services. [There are reports that the demonstration was broken up by riot police with clubs and teargas. The reports said firemen who rushed to the scene to out blazes were repelled by protesters blocking the road. "Our children have nothing, drugs are easily available for them, but no sports facilities, no parks or a library," protester Bibi Zahra Akbari told the Associated Press news agency. "Our water is bad, we cannot drink it, we see some sand in the drinking water," she added. Shatareh has no hospitals or recreations facilities, and its schools are old and neglected. Riots broke out in Islamshahr several years ago after bus fares to Tehran were increased. Correspondents say patchy reforms introduced by the government of President Mohammad Khatami have failed to take effect. ****************************************************** LAWYERS MOHSEN RAHAMI AND SHIRIN EBADI ARRESTED Iran - Wednesday, 28 June 2000 - Agence France Presse Pro-reformist lawyer Mohsen Rahami was arrested and jailed on a court order along with lawyer Shirin Ebadi 28 June 2000 in Tehran. Mohsen Rahami was the lawyer of the students in the 'July unrest police trial' and he also represented Abdollah Nouri. The lawyers allegedly had roles in making and distributing video cassettes that fingered leading officials over a number of incidents of terrorism. ********************************************************* IRANIAN REFORMIST NEWSPAPER ORDERED TO CLOSE BBC World June 25, 2000 One of the few remaining newspapers in Iran which supports the reform policies of President Mohammed Khatami has been ordered to close down. The conservative-controlled Special Court for Clergy told the paper, Bayan, to stop publishing immediately, saying it had committed offences against the press law. Nearly twenty other pro-reform newspapers in Iran have also had to close in recent weeks, for unspecified press offences. The latest court decision goes against the wishes of Iran's reformist parliament -- which only a week ago appealed to the judiciary to take a more tolerant approach to freedom of expression in Iran. Bayan was run by a former interior minister, Ali Akhbar Mohtashemi, a close advisor of President Khatami. ********************************************************* IRAN FREES ON BAIL TWO WOMEN JAILED OVER "ANTI_ISLAMIC" SEMINAR Iran - Wednesday, 21 June 2000 - Agence France Presse TEHRAN, June 21 (AFP) - Two Iranian feminists arrested and detained for having attended an "anti-Islamic" seminar in Berlin in April were freed on bail pending trial, the state news agency IRNA reported. Lawyer Mehranghiz Kar and publisher Shahla Lahiji, known for their campaign for women's rights in Iran, had been held in Evin prison since April 29 for their presence at the seminar earlier in the month. ********************************************************* ASSOCIATION OF IRANIAN WOMEN_USA (AIWUSA) P.O BOX 1192 HERNDON, VA 20172 Tel: (703) 941-8584 E-mail: aiwusa@aiwusa.org Homepage:http://www.aiwusa.org _________________________________________________________________________ fem-Women2000@jca.apc.org for Women 2000, UN Special Session on Beijing+5 Searcheable Archive http://www.jca.apc.org/fem/news/women2000/index.shtml visit fem-net HomePage for other mailing lists http://www.jca.apc.org/fem