Ampersand has a heads up about Iranian feminist and human rights bloggers being jailed. (He got it from Oxblog). The World Movement for Democracy put out the word, and I will print their post here below. Please write a polite letter of protest and concern to the officials listed below to support human rights, women's rights, and your fellow bloggers.I'm also including the post from The World Movement for Democracy below, and encourage anyone who reads this to write a polite letter to the officials listed. "Polite" is the key here - this is one of those instances where venting your spleen might make you feel better, but it won't help the people who've been imprisoned. Years of writing letters as a member of Amnesty International taught me that however much you want to throw a grenade into their foxhole, polite is the only thing that has a positive effect on repressive governments.
Please, write. For American bloggers sitting comfortably at home in our bathrobes and fuzzy slippers, getting thrown in jail for posting our opinions on the "Internets" is unthinkable. But in countries where free speech is neither a right nor a privilege, expressing your opinion in a public forum is an act of real courage. The blogosphere is a truly global community, and these women are an important part of it. Let's support them.
The World Movement for Democracy would like to express its concern for the safety of two Iranian women leaders, Fereshteh Ghazi, an online journalist, and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, editor of a women's rights journal "Farzaneh." According to the Women's Learning Partnership, Abbasgholizadeh has contributed to the strengthening of Iranian civil society by conducting capacity building programs as Director of the NGO Training Center in Tehran, and was arrested at her home on November 2, 2004. Ghazi has used her skills to create an increased awareness of the status of women in Iran using the Internet, and was arrested in her office on October 28, 2004. Both women have been denied the right to legal counsel. Over the past two months, a string of Internet writers and civil society activists have been arrested for "propaganda against the regime, endangering national security, inciting public unrest, and insulting sacred belief," according to Jamal Karimi Rad, the judiciary's spokesman.
Amnesty International reports that Ghazi and Abbasgholizadeh are among 25 internet journalists and civil society activists that have been arbitrarily arrested in recent weeks. The Women's Learning Partnership, a World Movement participating organization, has been contacted by colleagues in Iran asking them to help bring attention to the plight of civil society activists in Iran.
Suggested Action: To demand the immediate release of Fereshteh Ghazi and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and express your concern for the rise in human rights violations in Iran, please write to President Hojjatoleslam Sayed Mohammad Khatemi, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the President of the European Parliament, and the Iranian embassy in your country:His Excellency Hojjatoleslam Sayed Mohammad Khatemi
The Presidency Office
Pasteur Avenue
Tehran 13167-43311, Islamic Republic of Iran
E-mail: Khatami@president.ir
Her Excellency Louise Arbour
High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: + 41 22 917 9022
E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org
His Excellency Josep Borrell Fontelles
President of the European Parliament
Division for Correspondence with Citizens
Iranian Embassies
Additional Information:
Women's Learning Partnership: "Alert: Condemn the Iranian Government's Crackdown on Civil Society and Women's Rights Organizations"
Human Rights Watch: "Iran: Web Writers Purge Underway"Amnesty International:"Iran: Civil society activists and human rights defenders under attack"
Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML): "Iran: Call for the unconditional release of Mahboobeh Abbasgholizadeh"
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