STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Iran has reportedly sentenced four female activists to six months in prison for writings demanding equality for women, a move denounced Friday by Sweden, which awarded a human rights prize to one of the activists earlier this year. The reported sentencing is apparently the latest move in a crackdown by Iranian authorities on women activists who have stepped up a campaign over the past year demanding changes in divorce, inheritance and other laws that discriminate against women.Parvin Ardalan, the most well-known of the four, had been due to travel to Stockholm in March to collect the Olof Palme award but was barred by Iranian authorities from leaving the country.
She and the other three women were sentenced on Tuesday for writings on several Iranian women's rights Web sites, the independent Iranian daily Kargozaran and a women's web site Kanun-e-Zenan Irani reported. The reports said the women were appealing, and it was not known whether the four had been taken into custody. Iranian judiciary officials could not be reached for comment.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on Friday condemned the sentences, calling it “yet another expression of the deteriorating respect for human rights in Iran." “I have previously called attention to Sweden's appreciation of Ardalan and her colleagues' engagement to promote human rights in Iran. Their work is especially important for women's situation in Iran," he said.
The other three activists were identified as Jaleh Javahiri, Mariam Hosseinkhah and Naheed Kashavarz.
Ardalan was among dozens of women arrested during a 2006 demonstration in Tehran demanding equal rights and she was given a three-year suspended prison sentence on charges of jeopardizing national security. Ardalan, a columnist in women's publications, is the co-founder of a campaign aimed at gathering 1 million signatures in favor of equal rights for women.