Parvin Ardalan prevented from leaving Iran

Parvin Ardalan, one of the founding members of the One Million Signatures Campaign, and a longtime women’s rights activist and the winner of the Palme Prize, was prevented to leave Iran to receive her 2007 Olof Palme Prize in Stockholm. She honoured this prize for "making the demand for equal rights for men and women a central part of the struggle for democracy in Iran" last month.

Ardalan told AFP "Last night... I boarded an Air France plane destined for Stockholm to take part in the prize ceremony but in the plane they paged my name and told me that I am barred from leaving the country. They took my passport and asked me to refer to the presidential office department for passport affairs after 72 hours to take it back. They told me that I still have an open judicial case, which is not true."

She had been summoned to the security branch of the Revolutionary Courts for unknown reasons on February 24. She said "I appeared before the court but the inspector was not there... according to law when they are not there they should issue a new summons warrant which they did not. The only reason for this move is to prevent me from taking part in the ceremony. I think this is unreasonable."

She, a leader of the Iranian women's movement, was sentenced to three years in prison in April 2007 after being declared a threat to national security for criticizing the state of women's rights in Iran. Ardalan has appealed the verdict and has yet to serve time in prison.