Iran

On 19 December 2009, women's human rights defender Ms Somayeh Rashidi was arrested after being summoned to the Revolutionary Courts for questioning. Somayeh Rashidi is an active human rights defender working on women's rights in Iran. She is involved in the One Million Signatures Campaign, also known as Change for Equality, a campaign led by women in Iran to collect one million signatures in support of changing Iranian discriminatory laws against women. 

Front Line welcomes the release of human rights defender, Mr. Abdoreza (Alireza) Tajik, who has been released on bail from Evin prison. Front Line remains deeply concerned about human rights defenders, Mr Abdolfattah Soltani, Mr Kayvan Samimi, Ms Jila Baniyaghoob and Mr Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee who remain in detention and have not been officially charged. 

Front Line is concerned following the arrest and detention of Ms Khadijeh Moghadam, Ms Mahboubeh Karami, Ms Delaram Ali, Ms Leila Nazari, Ms Farkhondeh Ehtesabian, Ms Bahara Behravan, Mr Ali Abdi, Mr Amir Rashidi, Mr Mohammad Shoorab, Mr Arash Nasiri Eghbali, Ms Soraya Yousefi and Ms Shahla Forouzanfar, all human rights defenders from the One Million Signatures Campaign and Mothers for Peace, on 26 March 2009. 

Front Line is deeply concerned following reports that student rights activists Mr Abbas Hakimzadeh, Mr Mehdi Mashayeki, Mr Nariman Mostafavi, Mr Ahmad Qasaban, Ms Sanaz Allahyari, Ms Nasim Roshana'i, Ms Maryam Sheikh, and Mr Amir Hossein Mohammadi-Far have been recently arrested and detained, and may be at risk of torture and ill-treatment.