Maryam Hosseinkhah and Jelve Javaheri Released from Prison in Iran

14 January 2008 in Feminism, Government, Middle East

Change for Equality: Maryam Hosseinkhah and Jelve Javaheri, women’s rights activists and members of the One Million Signatures Campaign were released on Wednesday January 2, at 7pm from Evin prison where they had been detained on charges related to their writings in support of women and activities within the Campaign. Maryam Hosseinkhah was arrested on November 18th after two summons to court and Jelve Javaheri was arrested on December 1 subsequent to her summons to court. Initially the prosecutor had determined that a bail in the amount of 100 million Tomans for Maryam Hosseinkhah and 50 million Tomans for Jelve Javaheri (roughly $100,000 and $50,000) should be set as pre-requisite to their release. Unable to produce this amount, Jelve and Maryam remained in prison. On Wednesday, the two were finally released on bail in the form of guaranteed bank check in the amount of 5 million Tomans (roughly $5,000).

While in prison these two women’s rights defenders continued with their activities in support of women, but focused this time on female prisoners in Evin. They managed, with the help of their colleagues outside of prison, to collect and contribute 60 books to the women’s library at Evin prison and to set up a fund in support of female prisoners. They also wrote about the condition of female prisoners and the impact of discriminatory laws and their contribution to women’s criminality and incarceration. In fact, their time at Evin contributed so positively to the improvement of conditions for female prisoners, that the inspector of the female ward of Evin prison expressed that the presence of women’s rights activists like Maryam and Jelve at Evin, was a blessing for female prisoners and asked these two women’s rights defenders to convey recommendations for improving the condition of prisoners to Evin officials during their stay.

Besides being women’s rights activists and active members of the One Million Signatures Campaign, Maryam Hosseinkhah is journalist who often writes on legal issues affecting women and Jelve Javaheri is a Masters level student in Sociology whose research is focused on women’s rights.

From http://www.we-change.info/english/spip.php?article200

5 January 2008
* Women at Evin: Victims of Marriage at a Young Age

5 January 2008
* The Sorrowful Tales of Women at Evin Prison

2 January 2008
* The One Million Signatures Campaign: Moving beyond Elite Demands

And earlier stories at http://www.we-change.info/english/