Shiva Nazar Ahari ( fa, شیوا نظر آهاری) (born June 10, 1984) is an Iranian human rights activist and a founding member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters. She has been jailed several times by the Iranian government.

Early life

She was jailed on 14 June 2009 and held in the Evin prison until September 23, 2009, when she was released on an equivalent of a $200,000 bail. She had been in solitary confinement for 33 days. On December 21, 2009 she was arrested once again along with several other activists who were on their way to the city of

Qom Qom (also spelled as "Ghom", "Ghum", or "Qum") ( fa, قم ) is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. Qom is the capital of Qom Province. It is located to the south of Tehran. At the 2016 census, its popul ...

to attend the funeral of Grand Ayatollah

Hossein Ali Montazeri Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri ( fa, حسینعلی منتظری‎ ; 24 September 1922 – 19 December 2009) was an Iranian Shia Islamic theologian, Islamic democracy advocate, writer and human rights activist. He was one of the leade ...

. The most recent hearing was held on September 4, 2010, at the 26th branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of the Tehran Province, with charges including "attempts to deface the Islamic government", "assembly with intention of conspiring against the Islamic government", "disrupting the public order" and

moharebeh In Islamic law, ''hirabah'' is a legal category that comprises highway robbery (traditionally understood as aggravated robbery or grand larceny, unlike theft, which has a different punishment), rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually ...

or "waging war against God". Since her arrest, the court proceeding has met with strong international criticism, the allegation being that it was an illegal measure taken by the Islamic Republic of Iran to further repress the rights of dissent and freedom of speech in the country, and her immediate release has been called for.
After 266 days in prison, she was released on September 12, 2010 on a bail of five billion Iranian rials (roughly equivalent to over $500,000). Per a summons, Shiva Nazar Ahari appeared at Evin on September 8, 2012, to serve a 4-year prison sentence. A number of organizations call for her immediate release -

Reporters without borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

, World association of newspapers and news publishers or PEN International.

Awards

On Sunday, March 13, 2011, it was announced that Shiva Nazar Ahari was the 2011 recipient of the for "courageous internet reporting on human rights violations". The prize is named after

Theodor Haecker Theodor Haecker (June 4, 1879 in Eberbach, Grand Duchy of Baden - April 9, 1945 in Ustersbach) was a German writer, translator and cultural critic. Life He was a translator into German of Kierkegaard and Cardinal Newman. He wrote an essay, '' ...

, a philosopher, writer and anti-Nazi cultural critic.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahari, Shiva Nazar Iranian women's rights activists Living people 1984 births Iranian dissidents Iranian human rights activists Iranian women journalists