Roya Toloui (born May 22, 1966, in

Baneh Baneh ( fa, بانه, Bāneh, ku, بانە, translit=Bane) is a city and capital of Baneh County, Kurdistan Province, in Iran's western border. Baneh is bordered by Saqqez to the east, Marivan to the south, Sardasht to the west, and is approxim ...

, Kurdistan Province,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

) is a prominent

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

ian

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

activist and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

, currently residing in the US. She was born in

in western

. She received her high school diploma at Baneh and her PhD in

Medical laboratory A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are conducted out on clinical specimens to obtain information about the health of a patient to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Clinical Medical labor ...

from University of Mashad.

Life

She was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of ''Rasan'' (Rising up), a

monthly magazine about women's issues. Five issues of the magazine were published in

Sanandaj Sanandaj (Persian: سنندج, ; ku, سنە, Sine, often romanized as Senneh, is the capital of Kurdistan Province in Iran. With a population of 414,069, Sanandaj is the twenty third largest city in Iran and the second largest Kurdish city. San ...

in spring and summer of 2005 until it was closed down in the summer of 2005 by the Iranian judiciary. She is the founder of the ''Association of the Kurdish Women Supporting Peace in Kurdistan''. She is also a member of the

Kurdish PEN Kurdish PEN or the Kurdish Centre of the International PEN (''Navenda PEN a Kurd'' in Kurdish) is a branch of International PEN. It was suggested by Kurdish writer Hüseyin Erdem and voted into existence during International PEN's conference in Ca ...

. Due to her outspoken criticism of authorities as well as defense of the rights of Kurdish and Iranian women, she was tried in a Revolutionary Court in April 2005 and was accused of endangering national security. Following demonstrations in Kurdish inhabited areas of western Iran, she was arrested on 2 August 2005, and held in prison for 66 days until freed on bail in October 2005. Her case of imprisonment was highlighted in the

International PEN PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

's ''Day of the Imprisoned Writer'' in November 2005. After her release, she fled Iran for

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and finally she sought refuge in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in April 2006. In 2006, she received the

Oxfam Novib/PEN Award Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression is a literary award made in collaboration with PEN International Writers in Prison Committee, the PEN Emergency Fund, and Oxfam Novib (the Dutch affiliate of the international Oxfam organization). ...

References

External links

Amnesty International's Report, August 2005

Imprisonment of Roya Toloui

* ttp://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/2/018e8424-74c5-4f77-a00b-444cdc86061c.html About Roya Toloui in ''Radio Free Europe''
Dr. Toloui arrives in US
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toloui, Roya 1966 births Living people Iranian democracy activists Iranian dissidents Iranian feminists Iranian journalists Iranian Kurdish women Iranian women's rights activists Iranian Kurdish feminists People from Baneh Ferdowsi University of Mashad alumni