Mansoureh Behkish

Mansoureh Behkish is a women’s rights activist. She is a vocal person amongst the Mothers of Khavaran (Iran) and an activist amongst the Mothers of Laleh Park (Iran). As a supporter of non-violent resistance and a HRD she has spent the past three decades empowering survivors and victims of human rights abuses. In particular she seeks to help the mothers, sisters and wives of the thousands imprisoned or executed by the Islamic Republic authorities, to seek justice through legal and humanitarian channels. As a result of her work as a HRD, she herself has faced continuous harassment, confiscation of her passport and violation of her right to travel and three terms of imprisonment. On 4 April 2010 Behkish was charged with “assembly and conspiring with the intent to harm national security” as well as “propaganda against the system” and sentenced by Branch 15 of the Central Islamic Revolutionary Court. On July 5, 2012, the Appeals Court combined two parts of her sentence, sentencing her to four years of imprisonment, including three years and six months suspended for a period of five years, meaning she would serve those 3.5 years in addition to any new sentence, if convicted on similar charges over the next five years. On 4 February 2013, following a summons from the authorities, Behkish presented herself at Evin prison to begin her sentence, but upon arrival she was told to go home by the prison officials. Mansoureh Behkish was a finalist for the 2013 Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk.