TEHRAN, Iran – Maryam Hosseinkhah, a journalist and women’s rights activist, was arrested on November 18 in Iran. She was accused of “disturbing public opinion”, “propaganda against the system” and “publication of lies” through websites she edits. Bail was set for one billion rial ($107,000) but she could not afford it and was taken to prison.

Hosseinkhah is an active member of the feminist website Change for Equality, an initiative to collect a million signatures to end legislations that discriminate against women. Zanestan, another women’s online bi-monthly Hosseinkhah was frequent contributor of, has been closed since November 12 on the order of the Internet Bureau of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Orientation.

Hosseinkhah’s arrest marks the continuation of increased harassment of women’s rights activists, especially members of the “One Million Signatures” petition. Since the start of the campaign, 40 individuals have been arrested. Two other members of the campaign besides Hosseinkhaha remain in prison without access to their families or lawyers.

Press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders said “these women are simply asking for the same rights as men and there is nothing dangerous about them. The crackdown against these brave women shows the importance of the Internet in the country to the feminist struggle.”

This was not the first time Hosseinkhah was arrested. In June 2006, she took part in a protest in Tehran square against Iranian laws in marriage, child custody, and divorce for women. Seventy people who participated the protest were arrested and some were jailed. Police were accused of beating up women. Also in March 2007, Hosseinkhah was among 33 women arrested for protesting at the trial of five women’s rights activists.

Iran is notorious for omnipresent internet monitoring. It is among the world’s most repressive countries in relation to the Internet and boasts that it filters 10 million “immoral” websites. Since 2006, authorities have banned high speed connections in order to hamper what little internet freedom the Iranians previously enjoyed before.

For more information, please see:

Reporters Without Borders – Authorities could demand 95,000 euros for cyber-feminist’s release – 21 November 2007

AFP – Iran arrests women’s activist – 21 November 2007

Amnesty International – Arbitrary arrest/prisoner of conscience: Maryam Hosseinkhah – 19 November 2007

Payvand News – Journalist and woman activist, Maryam Hosseinkhah, arrested – 18 November 2007

By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

MALATYA, Turkey- The trial began for the five men who allegedly killed three Christians.  On April 18, 2007, the Christians were killed in their publishing house during a Bible study.  Two Turkish converts and German missionary were in a Bible study when their attackers arrived.  The prosecutor has stated that he will seek the death penalty for the men accused of the crime.

“Their attackers tied the men to their chairs, targeting Tilmann Geske, a German father of three, before turning to Pastor Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel. By the time police arrived, the Turkish converts had been virtually decapitated, with their buttocks, testicles, stomachs and backs repeatedly stabbed, their fingers sliced and throats slashed from ear-to-ear. The accused, all between 19 and 20, allegedly filmed clips on their mobile phones.”  (Guardian Unlimited)

The trial is important because the Turkish judicial system must show that it is committed to protecting the minorities in the community.  The Christians have always faced a strong anti-Christian sentiment in Turkey despite only 350 official conversions to Christianity in the past 15 years.  (The Independent)

In the past, Christians were seen as rebels seeking to overthrow the existing government.  However, Turkey’s recent desire to enter the European Union has caused the Turkish government to relax its regulations and protect the country’s Christians.  Yet, as anti-Western sentiment has recently grown, the Christians have suffered more attacks from churches being burned and a priest was recently shot and killed.

The court must take a strong stance on protecting the country’s minorities, especially since it has begun air strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq.  The PKK is a Kurdish militia seeking independence for the Kurdish people.  The Turkish government must show that it is committed to protect the minorities, since the violence against minorities, especially Turkey’s 15 million Kurds, may increase because of the PKK’s recent attacks.  If the Turkish government allows the minorities to be marginalized then it could allow independent militias like the PKK to gain support.

For more information, please see:

Guardian Unlimited- Turks accused of killing Christians go on trial- 24 November 2007

Independent Online- Five on trial in Turkey for missionary murders- 24 November 2007

Today’s Zaman- Court adjourns Bible publisher murder case- 24 November 2007

BosNewsLife- Turkish Prosecutor Seeks Life Sentences For Killers Of Christian Missionaries- 23 November 2007

By Kevin Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – An Egyptian Christian woman is going to jail for three years because her father’s brief stint as an Islam 45 years ago made her a Muslim, not a Christian as her official papers say.

Shadia Nagui Ibrahim on Thursday was charged with fraud for stating her religion as Christianity on her marriage certificate. She was unaware that her father, who left when she was two, had once converted to Islam in 1962. Her father’s conversion automatically made her a Muslim because children in Egypt must take their father’s religion. Even though he came back three years later and re-converted to Christianity, her status as a Muslim stood the same.

Christians in Egypt face many hardships solely because of their religious affiliation. While Egyptians typically have little difficulty changing religion from Christianity to Islam, changing from Islam to another religion such as Christianity is socially risky and considered apostasy.

Compounding the hardship is the state’s reluctance to allow citizens to put their religion of choice on identification cards. In Egypt, all citizens are required to carry identification cards once they reach the age of 16. Because the citizens have only three choices to choose from, this policy forces members of minority faiths to obtain forged documents that can result in criminal prosecution.

When Ibrahim’s father reconverted to Christianity, he forged his document to say he was a Christian. The authorities eventually caught him and told his daughter that she was still a Muslim and charged her with “providing false information on official documents” for stating that she was a Christian when she got married in 1982. She got sentenced for three years after a brief court session.

Also under Egyptian law, Muslim woman are not allowed to marry a Christian man.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Egypt Copt jailed 45 years after father’s conversion – 22 November 2007

Reuters – Egypt denies ID papers to Baha’is, converts – 12 November 2007

BBC News – Egypt ‘denies minority beliefs’ – 12 November 2007