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







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