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NEWS & LETTERS, June -July 2007

Women in Iran protest

This is a letter of protest from Iranian women and girls who are appealing to all human rights organizations to not abandon us. The most basic right of a human being is the right to choose one’s clothing. The Islamic Republic of Iran has taken away this right among other human rights.

Everyday, we witness a new wave of suppression. One day it is the suppression of the just demands of the teachers. Another day it is a crackdown on workers, students and women’s rights activists. Now we are witnessing an attack on all women in the name of defending the veil....

Do not let the experience of March 8, 1979 repeat itself. At that time, Iranian women came into the streets to protest against the decree to wear the headscarf. "We did not make a revolution to go backward." Few political and international human rights organizations defended this demonstration.   We can see the results of that inaction now.

Iranian women are demanding support again.... We are being beaten for not fully covering our hair with our headscarves or for wearing short instead of long overcoats.... The right to our choice of clothing is not separate from our right to be free. We are appealing to all women’s rights activists around the world and political organizations and social activists to defend us.

--Roya Payan, Women’s Rights Activist

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