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Iranian Women’s rights activist Shadi Sadr receives Dutch Human Rights Tulip Award today

Posted on 09/11/2009

Today Shadi Sadr, founder and director of the Iranian legal aid centre Raahi (on the road) in Tehran, has been awarded the prestigious Dutch Human Rights Tulip Award. Hivos has been cooperating with Raahi and Shadi Sadr from 2004 until 2007, when Raahi had to close its doors in a wave of repression against civil society activists who had contacts with the West. Shadi Sadr was repeatedly arrested and elaborately interrogated about her role as human rights defender/women’s rights activist and about the funding, which she received from the West for this work.

Hivos considers the Human Rights Tulip Award recognition of Shadi Sadr’s exceptional courage and decisiveness. It will support her in her work and contribute to her personal safety. But Shadi Sadr is not alone in this difficult strive. We consider the granting of the Human Rights Tulip Award to an Iranian women's rights defender recognition and support for the struggle of all men and women in Iran fighting for equal rights.

The award is also a boost for all those activists who protested peacefully for democracy after the electoral fraud in Iran and are now mercilessly prosecuted by the Iranian government. Hivos hopes that all oppressed and marginalized women worldwide take heart from the granting of this prestigious award to Shadi Sadr and continue fighting for equal rights.

This is a summary of an article that Marcel van der Heijden, Programme Officer Democratization and Human Rights at Hivos, wrote about Shadi Sadr and the political situation of women in Iran.

Photos: Shahrzad News