Since early November, at least 11 feminist leaders have been summoned to court, threatened over the phone, or banned from traveling, according to the One Million Signatures Campaign. Also last month, Iranian state television ran a documentary attacking the nation's women's rights movement, and on December 2, female TV announcers were barred from wearing any makeup on air. On Dec. 6, amid widespread student protests, more than 10 women were arrested at a weekly rally of mothers whose children were killed during protests of the disputed June 12 presidential election.
Perhaps most shocking, in late November the husband of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi was detained by authorities, reportedly beaten, and questioned about the whereabouts and activities of the couple’s two adult daughters, who are studying abroad in Europe. Ebadi’s Nobel medal was confiscated from her safe-deposit box and her bank account was frozen. The government claimed she had failed to pay back taxes, but coming on the heels of Ebadi’s support for a United Nations declaration attacking human-rights atrocities in Iran, there was little doubt the state’s intention was political. (According to the Norwegian officials who administer the Peace Prize, the medal was returned on Dec. 10.) Ebadi, a women’s rights lawyer, is currently in the United States, and is now fearful of returning to Iran, according to several activists who have spoken to her. (Ebadi is not fluent in English and her staff did not respond to an interview request for this story.)
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