A Report from Evin Prison

international | gender and sexuality | other press

Monday November 26, 2007 16:50

by Dorothy Gale

Maryam Hosseinkhah wrote this article in Evin Prison. Maryam was arrested on November 17 in relation to her activities and writings in defense of equal rights for women. On the 18th, a very high bail order was issued in her case. Maryam couldnt meet it and she was committed to Evin Prison.

This is prison; the women's ward of Evin prison. This is not my first time here; not the first time I've come to Evin. The first time, I came here as a journalist. Alongside the warden, I walked from cell to cell to listen to the stories of women who were here on charges of addiction, prostitution and murder.

Maryam Hosseinkhah

The second time I too was a prisoner. Just like everyone else in the ward. While I was in the general ward, thirty other women's rights activists were in solitary confinement. I was concerned and disoriented, lost between the uncertain fate of my friends and the misery of the inmates I used to write about. That day I was merely a guest who would soon be able to leave.

This time, the third time, however, everything is different. This time because of a $100,000 bail [which I can not afford], I'm just like one of them; one of the hundreds of women shut up inside the high walls of Evin with no-one to help them. The law doesn't protect them; neither do their families, nor does anyone else in the world.

Read updates about the case of Maryam and others currently in detention for their activities in support of the Campaign at:

http://www.we4change.info/english/spip.php?article152

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