Bahareh Hedayat ( fa, بهاره هدایت, born 1981) is an Iranian activist and campaigner for women's rights. She was one of the activists who worked on the

One Million Signatures One Million Signatures for the Repeal of Discriminatory Laws (Persian: ), also known as Change for Equality, is a campaign by women in Iran to collect one million signatures in support of changing discriminatory laws against women in their coun ...

campaign to change laws that discriminate against women in Iran. She has been arrested and imprisoned several times.

Life

Hedayat is a founding member of a petition for

women's rights in Iran During the late 20th and early 21st centuries in Iran, women's rights have been severely restricted, compared with those in most developed nations. The World Economic Forum's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Iran 140, out of 144 countries, ...

known as the "One Million Signatures campaign". She graduated from the University of Economic Sciences in Tehran. She was a student at the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...

in the School of Economics. On June 14, 2016, the United Nation's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion demanding Hedayat's immediate release, her imprisonment since 2009 being arbitrary and against international law. Hedayat experienced severe negligence and was denied access to her medical needs at various times throughout her imprisonment. She was also on occasion denied family visits and phone calls. During her time in prison, Hedayat translated

Dave Eggers Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He wrote the 2000 best-selling memoir ''A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius''. Eggers is also the founder of ''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', a lite ...

book ''The Circle'' and David Mitchell's ''

Cloud Atlas A cloud atlas is a pictorial key (or an atlas) to the nomenclature of clouds. Early cloud atlases were an important element in the training of meteorologists and in weather forecasting, and the author of a 1923 atlas stated that "increasing use ...

'' from English to Persian all by hand and with the help of a dictionary.

Arrests and imprisonment

She was arrested on July 9, 2007, and on August 9, 2007, but released on bail. She was again arrested and released in 2008 and in 2010 was sentenced to nine and a half years imprisonment for anti-state propaganda. Hedayat was arrested for her participation in a peaceful gathering to condemn the downing of the

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752/AUI752) was a scheduled international civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Kyiv, operated by Ukraine International Airlines. On 8January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 flying the route was shot dow ...

by Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in January 2020 and has been sentenced to four years and eight months in prison. On 10 February 2020, Bahareh was arrested by

Tehran University The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...

security police. She was later taken to

Qarchak prison Qarchak Prison ( fa, زندان قرچک, Zendân-e-Qarchak) is a prison for women located in Qarchak, in Qarchak County, previously part of Varamin County, Tehran Province, Iran (30 km SSE of the capital). It is also called fa, زندا� ...

. There she started a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

. Hedayat was again arrested by security forces in Tehran on Monday, October 11, 2022, amid the

Mahsa Amini protests Civil unrest and protests against the government of Iran associated with the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini ( fa, مهسا امینی) began on 16 September 2022 and are ongoing as of December 2022. Amini had been arrested by the Guida ...

. After eight days of detention, in a phone call, she informed her family that she was in ward 209 of Evin prison and did not know the reason for her arrest, nor the charges against her.

Awards and recognition

In 2012 Hedayat was awarded the

Edelstam Prize The grave of Harald Edelstam, September 11, 2010, at Eckerö church close to Stockholm. The celebration of him helping the Chilean and others to escape during the 1973 military coup. The Edelstam Prize, named after Harald Edelstam, is awarded ...

for outstanding contributions and exceptional courage in standing up for one's beliefs in defense of Human Rights.

References

* :fa:دانشگاه علوم اقتصادی

External links

Human Rights First article on her

Petition for her release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedayat, Bahareh Iranian dissidents Iranian feminists Iranian prisoners and detainees Iranian women's rights activists 1981 births Living people Prisoners and detainees of Iran Women's rights in Iran University of Tehran alumni Kharazmi University alumni People convicted of spreading propaganda against the system by the Islamic Republic of Iran Iranian women activists

Life

Arrests and imprisonment

Awards and recognition

See also

References

External links