Critics of the verdicts accuse the authorities of
persecuting citizens willing to campaign for social rights, and using the
suspended sentences to ensure that detractors remain silent.
Nasrin Afzali, Nahid Jafari, and Minoo Mortazi
were found guilty of acting against national security, disrupting public order,
and refusing to follow police orders. All the charges stem from their
participation in a political rally outside a Tehran courtroom in March 2006.
A fourth female activist, Zeinab Payghambarzadeh,
who attended the same rally, was given a two-year suspended prison term after
being accused of similar charges.
The sentences will only be carried out if the
women are found guilty of another crime within two years. All four women intend
to appeal the verdicts.
Zahra Arzani, a defense lawyer for Jafari, told
Radio Farda that such sentences are intended to humiliate human rights activists
across the country.
"The feminist movement's work and demands are
entirely peaceful," Arzani said. "Their latest project -- the One Million
Signatures Campaign -- is also a peaceful project that involves talking to
people in person. It is not a crime."
Arzani added that "people who take part in these
projects should be appreciated and shown gratitude for doing this work, instead
of being sent to prison and beaten up."
Jafari said that by gathering outside the court
in 2006, she and the other women were protesting the trial of fellow rights
activists. But she said the police disrupted the peaceful rally, beating up and
arresting dozens of demonstrators.
She told Radio Farda that the court has yet to
respond to a formal complaint that she filed about abusive behavior by the
police officers.
"Back then, I was beaten up badly. I had
bleeding, and my hearing ability was impaired for some time afterwards," Jafari
said. "They inflicted serious injury on me, but I still haven't got any response
to my complaint."
Afzali, for her part, said that she does not
understand why human rights activists should be arrested and punished.
All the women are members of the One Million
Signatures Campaign, a nonpolitical movement that seeks to change what it calls
discriminatory laws in Iran, including laws on inheritance, divorce, and child
custody.
Campaign members want to gather 1 million
signatures from Iranians and ask the parliament to abolish those laws, which the
campaign says treat women as "second-class citizens."
Some 43 of the campaign's members have been
arrested since it was launched in August 2006, most of them subsequently charged
with acting against national security.
One campaign member, Khadija Moghaddam, arrested
earlier this month, is awaiting trial after failing to pay $110,000 in bail that
a Tehran court had set for her release.
Iranian-born human rights activist Mehrangiz Kaar
said that the authorities obviously feel threatened by human rights and feminist
activities, and that they fear such activities might expand around the country
as a part of a greater social rights movements.
Kaar told Radio Farda that Tehran "wants to keep
all these rights activists silent -- that's why the feminists have been handed
suspended sentences."
According to Kaar, the authorities hope that with
suspended jail sentences hanging over their heads, the women will not take any
further risks by getting involved in rights-related activities.
Iran denies Western allegations of discrimination
against women.
RFE/RL correspondent Farangis Najibullah
contributed to this report
