22 January 2008
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Leila Heidari, wife of Azerbaijani activist Behrouz Safari, was detained by security forces after visiting the Intelligence Office to meet her husband on August 28, 2007, initially held in Zanjan, and later transferred to the infamous Ward 209 of Evin Prison, remaining in custody despite serious health issues. |
At present, our country is in a situation where individual, social, political, and economic restrictions are increasing day by day. These repressions will bring about very adverse consequences for society. Azerbaijani women express their opposition to the continuation of this trend and emphasize:
1 — The intensification of website filtering, the banning of publications, and warnings issued to them to avoid addressing serious social issues have led to a dead end in the democratization process, rendered the press meaningless, and ultimately pushed social movements toward extremist actions. We, Azerbaijani women, protest the banning of publications, including the suspension of the monthly journal Dilmaj, which analyzed Azerbaijan’s problems, reflected its potential, and sought to elevate the theoretical level of its social activists. It also served as a free platform for the independent women’s movement of Azerbaijan. Other examples abound, such as the student publication Telangar, which was shut down after its very first issue for addressing women’s issues, with its editorial board and editor-in-chief summoned by the University of Tabriz security office.
We demand the reinstatement of independent Azerbaijani publications, an end to the intimidation of editors, and condemn the warnings issued to journals and periodicals that dedicate some of their issues to women’s issues.
2 — The women’s movement of Azerbaijan, which was among the pioneers of the One Million Signatures Campaign for Changing Discriminatory Laws against Women—given that after Tehran, most of the leading cities in this movement were in Azerbaijan—believes that familiarizing women with the rights they have and those denied to them is the most important path for defining and consolidating their demands. We continue to support the campaign as the minimum demand of women and regard it as the fundamental right of every person to sign under their own demands. We condemn any threats, arrests, or intimidation of women’s movement activists.
3 — The realization of women’s rights is the shared goal of women’s movement activists. While Turkish, Kurdish, Arab, and other women have linked their civil demands with those of other women active in the women’s movement, they also struggle for their national rights and, in doing so, bear the heaviest costs. In recent months, we have witnessed the arrest of dissident Turkish women in various parts of Azerbaijan—women who are concerned both with equality between women and men, and with equality among the ethnic groups and nations of Iran. What is particularly troubling is the lack of adequate media coverage of these arrests—neither from the Iranian women’s movement nor from other political groups and activists. Such a stance leaves the hands of oppressors free to, under the false accusation of separatism and without considering the slightest rights, arrest these individuals with the harshest measures and send them to prison, away from the scrutiny of human rights observers and public opinion. This in itself is a double injustice against these activists.
The Azerbaijani women’s movement, while expressing its dissatisfaction with the threats, arrests, and torture of social and political activists of Azerbaijan—many of whom are held in extremely poor conditions—believes that the continuation of this trend will deepen the resentment and anger of the people of this region and, once again, we emphasize that it paves the way for extremist movements. We women deeply understand that the families and spouses of these prisoners—including Atiyeh Taheri, wife of Saeed Metinpour; Roghayeh Alizadeh, wife of Abbas Lisani; and the families of Reza Metinpour and Jalil Ghanilu—suffer even more than the prisoners themselves.
We demand the release of these prisoners, especially the immediate and unconditional release of Leila Heidari, who was arrested while visiting her imprisoned husband, Behrouz Safari (an Azerbaijani political activist). She is now in the fifth month of her detention in Ward 209 of Evin Prison. According to news sources and reports by human rights reporters, she has repeatedly suffered heart attacks and migraines in prison, to the extent that she lost consciousness twice during interrogations, and even prison medical authorities have issued warnings about her condition.
Therefore, we, Azerbaijani women active in the women’s movement, while emphasizing and recognizing the legitimacy of national (ethnic) demands, call for the urgent release of Leila Heidari given the critical state of her health. We expect all activists of the women’s movement, civil organizations, and political activists to join us in solidarity by signing this statement for the release of Leila Heidari and supporting the women of Azerbaijan.
Women’s Movement Activists of Azerbaijan
19 January 2008
The link to the original statement in Farsi:
بیانیه جمعی از زنان آذربایجان