Human rights lawyer and women’s rights activist Shadi Sadr was arrested in Tehran on Friday. She was approached by several plain clothed officers who pushed her into a car while she was walking with friends to Friday prayers. In a call to her husband, she confirmed that she was under arrest and being held at Evin Prison, although it is unclear at this point what the charges are against her. Intelligence officers searched her home and legal office following her arrest.
Ms. Sadr is one of several human rights lawyers to be arrested in recent weeks. Abdolfattah Soltani, a member of the Centre for Human Rights Defenders, was arrested by plain clothed security forces on June 16, while one of the Centre’s founding members, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, was arrested on July 6 along with several of his colleagues. The arrests are the result of the government crackdown on critics following last month’s disputed re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that saw protests and violence throughout Iran.
However, Ms. Sadr’s arrest comes as a key Iranian cleric, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, called for the government to release prisoners detained after last month’s election. In a sermon given at Tehran University on Friday, Rafsanjani asked the government to release the prisoners and warned, “The system cannot lose them. If the system reproaches them they will come back to us.”
Rafsanjani served as President of Iran from 1989 to 1997 and is one of the remaining giants of the Iranian Revolution. He has become increasingly vocal in past weeks about the crackdown on protestors and government critics. His sermon served to galvanize a weakened opposition who believe that last month’s election was stolen from them. However, while calling for the release of prisoners and increased respect on the part of the government for freedom of speech, Ms. Sadr and at least 14 others were arrested while police and militias broke up the massive crowds outside Tehran University with tear gas and truncheons. Iranian news is also reporting that 36 military officers who planned on attending the sermon dressed in their military uniforms as a sign of solidarity with the opposition have also been arrested.