AI; Women's Rights Activist Held In Iran

Women’s rights activist Mahboubeh Karami has been detained in Evin prison in Iran's capital, Tehran, since 2 March. Amnesty International believes she is a prisoner of conscience, held because she campaigns for human rights. She is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

Mahboubeh Karami has been a member of the Campaign for Equality since its foundation in 2006. The Campaign aims to end discrimination against women in Iranian law.
Mahboubeh Karami’s house in Tehran was raided by three security officials at 10pm on 2 March. Prior to her arrest, they searched the house and confiscated some of her personal belongings.

Mohsen Karami, her brother, told the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a website run by an independent Iranian human rights organization, that the warrant for her arrest listed charges of rioting and "participation in gatherings". He said that these charges were baseless, as “Mahboubeh has spent much of the last year caring for her ill father.”

Mahboubeh Karami has been arrested four times before on similar charges. Each time, she was detained for several days before being released. She was later acquitted of all charges. See UA 86/09 and follow-up; and UA 169/08.
Her arrest is part of a wave of arrests of human rights defenders, journalists and political activists which have been carried out since the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 2010, and which have stepped up since the start of March 2010.