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The phone rings. The number is Lili's. I think maybe she wants to congratulate the "eid" ‎‎[Persian New Year held every year in March 21]. But my friend's worry transcends anything ‎relating to the New Year or congratulations. She says, "Have you heard about Khadijeh?" ‎

‎"No! What happened?" Every bad thought, from accident to all types of diseases, jumps to my ‎head - every thought, other than that she has been handcuffed and taken from her home to prison. ‎

Not because that would be strange, no. We are used to it. But to do it to a woman like Khadijeh, ‎who was always a symbol of peace and reason for me, is hard to fathom. When my friend hangs ‎up, I can't stop thinking: "Why?"‎

Why a woman like Khadijeh Moghaddam? During the violent suppression of the 15 June, 2006 ‎demonstration, she told calmly to a green-wearing man who was insulting her, "Shame on you, I ‎am your mother's age." The man, of course, continued to shout the worst insults at her. ‎

Since the evening, when I heard the news, up to the middle of the night, when I am writing these ‎lines, the lovely image of Khadijeh Moghaddam has not left my mind. I know her from a few ‎years ago, when she was a stubborn woman fighting against the destruction of the environment, ‎something that she still cares about. ‎

When on February 9, 2006, Tehran's municipality cut 12 thousand trees in "Lavizan" to build a ‎highway, that very morning, Khadijeh Moghaddam and a number of her colleagues headed to ‎Lavizan, carrying signs and tents. They stayed in the Lavizan woods to prevent further cuts. ‎

I review the memories of these past years. In a meeting of women's rights activists, after the ‎usual greetings, she said, "Aren't you throwing a party?" I asked, "For what?" She responded, ‎‎"We have an initiative for all people who are throwing parties in their homes which benefits both ‎them and a group of women in need of help." Then, with a lot of energy, she began describing ‎the initiative, devised by her and her friends, to help disadvantaged women cook and sell food at ‎low cost to people. ‎

Khadijeh Moghaddam's volunteer activism and motherly support for the One Million Signatures ‎Campaign, and her initiative to set up the Mothers' Committee of the campaign along with some ‎of the more experienced campaigners, brought her a kind of fame as a supportive mother figure ‎backing the young campaigners. Before that all, however, Khadijeh was known as a peace-‎loving and anti-war woman, a mother supporting her land and all its children. ‎

Khadijeh Moghaddam was taken to jail this morning in handcuffs and asked to post bail. An ‎hour ago, when I was speaking with her family, they told the story of how she told the officers, ‎‎"For what crime do I need to post bail? I haven't committed any crimes." ‎

Bail and handcuffs and arrest for a women who, three months ago, was doing all she could to ‎save the lives of several people convicted to death, seems like a joke. ‎