By Rose Kulak
Brave women in Iran are being harassed, arrested and even tortured in their campaign for equality before the law. Now they're asking for our support.
It’s one of the most challenging countries in the world in which to campaign for human rights - but the women of Iran are defying harassment, battery, imprisonment and even torture to be heard.
Since 2006, women and men inside Iran have been organising by the thousands to achieve recognition of women’s equality before the law, in a campaign known as One Million Signatures. It’s one of the most impressive grassroots campaigns for equality the world has ever known, and now they’re asking us for support:
Sign our petition to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei at http://www.amnesty.org.au/action/action/24220/?&utm_source=iranwomen1&ut...
Championing women’s equality in a country where a woman isn’t even recognised as a citizen until she is a married mother is a daunting prospect. Whereas a man can have four wives and infinite ‘temporary wives’, a woman can be stoned to death on the accusation of adultery. A woman’s testimony is worth half as much as man’s in court, yet girls can be held criminally responsible and even sentenced to death before their 10th birthday.
Yet there is a growing movement of women and men inside Iran who see things differently, and refuse to be silenced.
Add your name and send this message to the women of Iran: your voice is powerful, and you are not alone.
So today, as we mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we stand in solidarity with all Iranian women. Many have been harassed, arrested, beaten and jailed for daring to challenge the status quo. But despite the scale of the repression, they continue to use their voice at enormous personal risk to gather support. Please send the message that we will not be silent either and join their call now.
Thank you for using your voice,
Rose Kulak
Individuals at Risk
Amnesty International Australia
PS. Iranian activists know that external pressure on their country’s leaders makes a difference. Most recently, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a woman sentenced to death for adultery, has avoided execution following a global outcry. But her fate remains precarious - and just for speaking out, her lawyer and son have now been jailed as well.
2010 Amnesty International | Locked Bag 23, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia | 1300 300 920
