Ms. Parvin Ardalan Olaf Palme Prize Winner

www.protectionline.org Ms. Parvin Ardalan Olaf (Olof) Palme Prize Winner speaking on the occasion of accepting the prize. She was arrested at the Tehran Airport before she could go to Sweden to accept her prize in recognition of her work as a feminist and a person who wants an end to the Gender Apartheid in Iran. www.protectionline.org 4 March 2008 Iranian feminist and journalist Parvin Ardalan was prevented from leaving Iran on Sunday to travel to Sweden where she was to receive the 2007 Olof Palme Prize in Stockholm. She told the AFP news agency that after she boarded an Air France flight at Tehran airport she was paged and then told that she was not permitted to leave the country. "They took my passport and asked me to refer to the presidential office department for passport affairs after 72 hours to take it back," she said. "The only reason for this move is to prevent me from taking part in the ceremony. I think this is unreasonable." Parvin Ardalan, who lives in Tehran, is facing possible imprisonment for her part in organizing a demonstration in June 2006, calling for an end to legal discrimination against women in Iran. She was briefly detained after the demonstration. In April 2007, she was convicted of acting against national security and sentenced to six months' actual imprisonment, with an additional 30 months suspended for five years. She remains free pending her appeal. On 4 March 2007, during the trial, a peaceful protest was held outside the courtroom and ...



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