Esha Momeni, an American-Iranian student who was arrested while visiting her family in Tehran, will be arraigned in Iranian court, says a spokesman for the judiciary. Meanwhile she is free to leave the country.
Momeni, a graduate student at California State University, was initially arrested for a traffic offence on October 15. Then police confiscated her passport, her computer and materials relating to a film she was making about Iranian women and locked her up in Evin prison.
Three weeks later Momeni was released on bail, but still faces charges of “acting against state security” and “propaganda against the system.”
It’s widely believed this charge relates to Momeni’s work with the “Campaign for One Million Signatures.” It is a grassroots movement to collect a million signatures on a petition demanding changes to laws that discriminate against women in Iran.
It is seeking fundamental changes, including an end to polygamy for men; stricter punishments for men convicted of honor killings or violence against women; and a guarantee of equal rights for women in marriage and their entitlement to inherit.
Campaign strategists argue the changes are solidly grounded in Islamic principles.
Shrin Ebadi, the Nobel laureate and human rights lawyer says the Campaign for One Million Signatures “is a powerful and popular movement because of its reliance on all people who believe in equal rights for men and women. It is for this reason that they government is unable to suppress it.”
The government is trying though.
Since its launch two years ago, leaders of the Campaign have been attacked, jailed and harassed by the government.
Last year, Parvin Ardalan, one of the Campaign’s founders, was on her way to Sweden to receive the prestigious 2007 Olaf Palme Prize when authorities removed her from the flight at Tehran airport and confiscated her passport.
In spite of the harassment, arrests and abuse, the movement is nevertheless gaining strength.
Although no prominent religious figures can overtly support the campaign, some influential voices have spoken out publicly in favor of equal rights for women.
Grand Ayatollah Sanei, a senior cleric in the holy city of Qom, has engaged in the discussion against polygamy on his website.
“Second marriage without consent of the first wife is unlawful and Haram (forbidden in Islam),” he writes. “I hope the Islamic Parliament does not approve this law. God forbids the Parliament from passing such a bill which would impose many problems - especially for women.”
Observers think the publicity around issues raised by the campaign has already derailed one government initiative that would have further undermined Iranian women.
Earlier this year, the cabinet of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed making polygamy easier for men. They would also have taxed the obligatory payment a man gives to his wife when they marry.
In Iran, this “bridal money” acts as a financial safety net for millions of women who do not get alimony or support if they’re divorced.
The proposed changes were opposed by an unusual coalition of women’s rights activists from both conservative and reform camps. In the end, Iranian judges helped defeat the new laws, saying they would promote polygamy and erode women’s s financial independence.
But the battle to reform laws in women’s favor continues.
Esha Momeni, the American Iranian student, is now free on bail and has permission to leave Iran. Chances are she will fly home to California, but the Campaign for One Million Signatures lives on in countless committed Iranian hands.
