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GUESTS: Dr. Homa Hoodfar, Professor of Anthropology at Concordia University in Montreal, currently the interim coordinator of Women Living Under Muslim Laws, Nikki Akhavan, Board member of US Chapter of Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Interventions in Iran

Two prominent Iranian feminists remain incarcerated following their arrest on March 4th, 2007 for participating in a peaceful protest. With their arrests coming right before International Women’s Day, Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh have been arraigned and charged with being a “threat to national security.” Under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, the two could face up to five years in prison. Since their arrest, Sadr and Abbasgholizadeh have been interrogated without access to their lawyers. Both women remain in jail where they face poor prison conditions while all the other activists who participated in the March 4th protest have since been released. Neither of the women has been granted access to adequate medical care despite the fact that Shadi Sadr suffers from a chronic stomach ulcer, while Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh suffers from arthritis and migraines. The two Iranian women have also been active in organizing the Stop Stoning Forever campaign which seeks to abolish stoning as a legal form of punishment for adultery.

For more information, visit www.meydaan.org.

A petition in support of the two women can be found here http://www.meydaan.org/English/petition.aspx?cid=52&pid=11