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Shirin Karimi

As official attacks on women activists in Iran continue, Parvin Ardalan who recently won ‎the prestigious Swedish 2007 Olaf Palme award was handed a 2-3 year suspended prison ‎sentence while Rezvan Moghadam, another activist, was sentenced to a 3 year suspended ‎prison term by an Iranian court.‎

According to Change for Equality news website, the 13th branch of Iran’s Revolutionary ‎Court sentenced Parvin Ardalan to 2 to 3 years of prison on charges of “illegal assembly” ‎and “refusing to comply with police orders with the aim of disrupting national security.” ‎The court passed the suspended sentence while taking into account the days Ardalan has ‎already spent behind bars since her arrest. According to the sentence Ardalan will be ‎detained and put behind bars if she commits the same crime during this suspended period.‎

The Change for Equality website writes: As an active member of Iran’s women’s ‎movement and of the One Million Signature Campaign, Parvin Ardalan was arrested ‎along with 32 other women activists on March 3, 2007 in front of a courthouse. March 3rd ‎was the day an earlier court had sentenced her and 4 other activists, to appear at the sixth ‎branch of the court and respond to charges of illegal assembly on June 12 2007 in ‎Tehran. Prior to the court session, they had witnessed police’s violent measures against ‎women who had been expelled from the court room that they were in to demonstrate their ‎solidarity for the trial of 22 other activists.‎

Ms Rezvan Moghadam, another woman activist was in a similar situation. Moghadam ‎who was sentenced to a three-year suspended prison term, is a teacher who has been ‎active since the age of 15 in improving the lot of deprived people that included those ‎living in tents in rural areas. Moghadam has a history of activism to improve living ‎conditions for the socially deprived women, women that support families, the protection ‎of the environment, peace, fighting against drug abuse, aides victims, and the reporting of ‎the conditions of these individuals around the country.‎

‎“The sentence that has been notified to my attorney is for six months imprisonment and ‎‎10 slashes of whipping, which has been suspended for 3 years,” Moghadam says, adding ‎‎“While I have not seen the court sentence myself, it was issued because of the gathering ‎we held on March 4, 2007 which was a complete civil act and absolutely peaceful. I view ‎this sentence as unfair and shall appeal it. I do not understand this, perhaps serving ‎people deserves to be rewarded with flogging and prison.”‎