Maryam Bahrman

Cases

Relevant SG report

From Country

Country Geolocation

Latitude: 32.427908

Longitude: 53.688046

From Region

Individual's/organization's activity: Members of the Campaign for Equality (One Million Signatures campaign)

Type of rights defended

Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?: No

Reported trigger of reprisal: arrest appears to be linked to her work as a women‟s rights activist and her participation in the fifty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March 2011.

Engagement with UN body

Type of attempted engagement

Reprisal information: was reportedly arrested on 11 May 2011 at her house in Shiraz and charged with national security offences.

Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?: Yes

Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?: No

Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?: No

Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?: No

Follow up information provided in SG report 0

Further to the information included in my previous report,28 Maryam Bahrman, a women’s rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures campaign, was tried by the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz on 15 September 2012. In December, Ms. Bahrman was sentenced to a suspended prison term of eight months on charges of propaganda against the State, but was acquitted of the charges of “insulting the leader” and “the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. On 20 May 2013, she was fined for having defamed the President and other State officials and for having spread misinformation about the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Her arrest and prosecution appear to have been linked to her participation in the fifty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York in March 2011.