Journalist and editor of Zanestan website, Maryam Hosseinkhah, was arrested and sent to ‎Evin prison yesterday as she appeared in court following a summons. ‎

A week after Zanestan website was banned by Islamic Republic officials, Maryam ‎Hosseinkhah received from a summons from the Ministry of Intelligence to appear in ‎court. According to Hosseinkhah’s husband, Shahab Mirzayi, Hosseinkhah appeared in ‎court and after a four-hour-long interrogation session was asked to appear in court again ‎this Sunday, when she was arrested. ‎

Hosseinkhah was arrested earlier this year along with 32 other women’s rights activists ‎following a peaceful gathering to protest the arrest and intimidation of women’s rights ‎activists. She spent 4 nights in Evin prison during that arrest. Hosseinkhah was then ‎charged with the usual accusations that are brought against political activists: disturbing ‎public opinion, acting against national security, and publishing false material. ‎

Hosseinkhah’s husband says, “Maryam and her friends wrote social and non-political ‎commentary in Zanestan and Change for Equality websites. They work to secure equal ‎rights for men and women, something that has been achieved in many countries in the ‎world, even in some Arab countries, and is supported by prominent Grand ayatollahs” –‎legal acts that, according to her lawyer, cannot be used as basis for her arrest. ‎

Maryam wrote for Zanestab, a website that was finally shut down last week after seven ‎suspensions. Prior to fully banning Zanestan, a Tehran court summoned Zanestan's ‎Internet service providers and ordered them to suspend Zanestan’s account. ‎

What did Maryam Hosseinkhah want and say that brought her to prison? Women’s rights ‎activist Farideh Ghaeb writes, “[Maryam is] a girl who supports women’s rights and, ‎most importantly, equality and humanity.”‎

Maryam’s banner on her blog states, “Eve was not tall enough; I will pick all of the ‎apples.” ‎

This does not go down well with a paternalistic worldview, which equates calling for ‎equality with “disrupting public opinion” and social activism to “acting against national ‎security.” The arrest of Maryam Hosseinkhah, shortly following the prison conviction ‎and lashing sentence for fellow activist Delaram Ali, creates the impression that this is ‎only the beginning; the beginning of yet another dangerous game. ‎