Women's rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, Sussan Tahmasebi was barred from leaving Iran yesterday morning at the Imam Khomeini International Airport.
In an interview with Rooz, Tahmasebi noted that she was unaware of the reason behind her travel ban adding, "I passed through the exit gate and obtained the exit stamp on my passport when they paged my name. I introduce myself to a person who was an airport security guard and they said that I was not allowed to leave the country. I asked to see the official orders but unfortunately was not treated appropriately. I protested and persisted but in the end they confiscated my passport and gave me a paper that demands that I present myself to the intelligence ministry within 72 hours in connection with my case."
When asked whether she has an open legal case from the past, Tahmasebi said, "As far as I personally know I don't have a case. The only one whose processing have not been completed relate to the June 12, 2006 case, which is awaiting the decision of the appeals court. In addition, I was barred from exiting the country for 7 months starting in October of 2006. That problem was resolved and I was able to have a work trip to Belgium. But now, despite that resolution, they have prevented me from leaving the country twice in the spring of 2007 on various pretexts."
This member of the One Million Signatures Campaign who always insists on the non-political nature of the activity of the group’s members, says regarding the treatment she received, "My summons has last month's date stamp. They could have officially summoned me within this month and explained their reasons rather than stopping me from going on this trip. Even when I was outside the country, I returned for my appeals court trial, therefore there was no reason to believe that I would flee the country."
Emphasizing the need to respect citizenship rights, Tahmasebi regards having an attorney throughout the discovery and interrogation processes as a right that she has always been deprived of.
Yester morning, after returning home, Sussan Tahmasebi was confronted by agents who had a search warrant. They took clips of her house and confiscated her personal computer, several of her books, CDs, tapes and notes. Although she describes their behavior as polite but explains that she remains unaware of her charges and received no explanation from the officers. According to summons papers served on Sussan Tahmasebi by these officers she must introduce herself to the security office of the first branch of the Revolutionary Court on Wednesday, 9 of Aban. According to the officers the issue of her being barred from exiting the country would be addressed by that court.
Tahmasebi is also one of the 33 women who were arrested in June 2006 and spent four days in Evin Prison. She was also sentenced to six months imprisonment and one year probation in connection with the June 12 case, which is currently in the appeals process.
