Leyla Zana is an outspoken critic of Turkey’s evident discrimination against the Kurdish minority. She has been fighting for Kurdish human rights for many years and was previously imprisoned for 10 years, a harsh price for her peaceful activism. The Turkish government apparently doesn’t think that’s enough punishment for this innocent Kurdish activist who does [...]
Reports from AKI and independent Kurdish media sources highlight the arrest of another Kurdish female activist in Iran.
Iran: Kurdish feminist arrested
Tehran, 7 Oct. (AKI) - Kurdish feminist and journalist, Neghin Sheikholeslami, has been arrested and detained in the capital Tehran’s notorious Evin prison (photo).
Sheikholeslami is the fourth Kurdish female activist to be imprisoned in Iran. [...]
Several Kurdish women and other women’s rights activists in Iran have been arrested throughout the year. Amnesty International has released another public statement renewing it’s demands that the Iranian authorities end their pressure and discrimination against these women’s rights defenders.
The lives and safety of 2 more Kurdish activists in Iran are in danger…
Hana Abdi - charged for her involvement in Kurdish and women rights faces charges of 5 years in prison. Just this year, at least one other Kurdish activist has reportedly died in Iranian prison under torture.
Ronak Safarzadeh - charged for her involvement [...]
The authorities continued to suppress dissent. Journalists, writers, scholars, and women’s rights and community activists were subject to arbitrary arrest, travel bans, closure of their NGOs and harassment. Armed opposition, mainly by Kurdish and Baluchi groups, continued, as did state repression of Iran’s minority communities. Discrimination against women remained entrenched in law and practice. Torture [...]
The state of emergency, in force since 1963, continued to give security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention. Freedom of expression and association were severely restricted. Hundreds of people were arrested and hundreds of others remained imprisoned for political reasons, including prisoners of conscience and others sentenced after unfair trials. Human rights defenders were [...]
In the wake of increased political uncertainty and army interventions, nationalist sentiment and violence increased. Freedom of expression continued to be restricted. Allegations of torture and other ill-treatment and the use of excessive force by law enforcement officials persisted. Prosecutions for violations of human rights were ineffective and insufficient, and fair trial concerns persisted. The [...]
Source: AFP
Medics in Iraqi Kurdistan said on Saturday that they had seen a surge in violence against women in May, with both so-called “honour” killings and female suicides on the increase.
“At least 14 women died in the first 10 days of May alone,” a doctor told AFP in the region’s second largest city of Sulaimaniyah.
“Seven [...]
