#Free_Nasrin
Documenting
the Struggle for Women's Rights in
Iran
By Roxy Szal, Ms.
Magazine
3/6/2020
Nasrin Sotoudeh, from Iran, was nominated for the Martin
Ennals Award 2012 alongside the Venerable Luon Sovath (Cambodia) and the Bahrain
Center for Human Rights.
![](/images/Free-Sotoudeh-Now-low-300x168.jpg)
On
International Women’s Day 2013, Iranian attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh addressed a
meeting in Tehran and spoke about the “common female experience” that links
women’s rights activists in her country over many decades of struggle. That
experience has been shared by women all over the world. -- Jeff Kaufman
We are proud to present this
short documentary about the women’s movement in Iran, directed by Jeff Kaufman and produced by Marcia Ross.
Kaufman had this to say about the film:
On International Women’s Day 2013, Iranian attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh addressed
a meeting in Tehran and spoke about the “common female experience” that links
women’s rights activists in her country over many decades of struggle. That
experience has been shared by women all over the world.
This documentary starts with a woman being executed for demanding equality in
Iran in 1852, which was just a few years after the Seneca Falls Convention in
the United States.
The parallels and lessons between our countries continues
today.
Producer Marcia Ross
and I have had the privilege of getting to know a number of the women in this
film. We feel it is important to bring attention to them and their cause,
especially as many languish in prison or exile.
Through gains and losses and remarkable resilience, these women have refused
to give up or be silenced. As Nasrin
Sotoudeh’s friend, colleague, and now fellow political prisoner
Narges Mohammadi said, “To achieve human rights, it is necessary to achieve women’s
rights.”
For some context, Pardis Mahdavi, PhD—director of Arizona
State University’s School of Social Transformation—breaks down the history of
Iranian feminism in a January 2020 post on msmagazine.com: Women have long been
at the forefront of pushing for social change in Iran.
![](/images/salamtoronto_2015-08-26_22-39.JPG)
From women’s frontline participation in the Constitutional (Mashrouteh)
Revolution in 1905-1911, to
women’s support of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in the early 1950s, to women’s
emphatic castigation of Iran’s Shah which led to the Iranian Revolution of
1979.
But in the years following the revolution of 1979, a new
generation has come of age. Since the late 1990s, young women and men have been
actively organizing through overtly feminist frameworks.
Many women Rights leaders have paid a huge price for
their bravery, as the Iranian government has cracked down on feminist leaders
with violence and imprisonment.
![](/images/Sotoudeh_Nasrin_large.JPG)
One of the women featured in the video, Nasrin
Sotoudeh is now serving a decades-long
sentence in Evin Prison. Released alongside Kaufman’s documentary was a
statement from Sotoudeh, written from prison. Here’s an
excerpt:
![](https://i2.wp.com/hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WhatsApp-Image-2019-03-25-at-9.04.00-PM.jpeg?resize=810%2C499&ssl=1)
Currently, I am in the women’s ward which consists of
three rooms and forty inmates. Most have been arrested for political reasons.
The occupants of Evin Prison’s women’s ward are human right activists, women’s
rights activists, civil and environmental activists, religious minorities and
mystics, members of labor movements, and individuals with dual citizenship who
are accused of spying.
In prison, I sometimes offer limited classes about human
rights issues to those who are interested, but mainly, I preoccupy myself with
learning and teaching others about truth and reconciliation commissions in other
countries.
Iran is a country where violations of women’s rights are systemic. This makes
it even more important to honor and commemorate International Women’s Day.
I specifically extend my hand to American citizens. Our governments have been
rivals for years, with little regards for us. On this day of March 8, I also ask
every Iranian around the world to help us in our pursuit of peace, this
fundamental aspect of survival. Happy International Women’s
Day.