In the early hours of this morning, March third, Parvin Ardalan, feminist journalist and well known activist of the “Campaign for One million Signatures against Discriminatory Laws against Women,” who was leaving for Stockholm to receive the Olof Palme prize, was forced by Iranian authorities to leave the Air France plane she was on. By confiscating her passport and giving it to the General Passport Office the Iranian authorities are trying to prevent her from participating in the prize giving ceremony. The purpose of this is only to restrict and silence the activists of social rights in Iran. It is aimed at covering the face of women like Parvin Ardalan, so that their call for justice cannot effectively echo in the world.
We turn to all human rights institutions and organisations in support of women’s liberation and equality to do all they can to make it possible for Parvin Ardalan to travel to Sweden and attend the prize giving ceremony on March 6.
[International Solidarity Network with Iranian Women’s Movement->mailto:iran.women.solidarity@googlemail.com]
3 March 2008
