Parastou Dokoohaki, a blogger and social activist, has been arrested twice, once for campaigning for women’s rights in Iran and the other for working with the BBC, a claim the British broadcaster denies. She spent a total of 40 days in solitary confinement.
Name: Parastou Dokoohaki
Career: Writer for Zanan (Women) blog; journalist for publications such as Yas-e Now, Zanan monthly and Neshat.
Born: 1980
Charges: Propaganda against the regime and activities against national security.
Parastou Dokoohaki, 34, is a journalist and civil rights activist. She writes for the Zanan blog, which was selected by German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle as the best Persian-language journalism blog in 2005.
She was arrested on January 15, 2012 at her home. Her personal belongings and laptop were confiscated and she was taken to Cell Block 2A at Evin Prison, controlled by the Revolutionary Guards. During her detention, Dokoohaki was rarely allowed to telephone her family. During her first interrogation, she was informed she was being charged with propaganda against the regime.
Dokoohaki was also arrested in 2006 when she and 32 other women’s rights activists took part in a rally outside the Islamic Revolutionary Court; they were initially charged with conspiracy against national security but the allegations were eventually dropped.
Dokoohaki was arrested a second time shortly after the death of her father, when she was in a fragile emotional state and taking medication as a result. Reformist websites reported that the Revolutionary Guards had arrested Dokoohaki and other journalists for having cooperated with the BBC Persian Service. The BBC has repeatedly denied this.
Dokoohaki was released on bail on February 26, 2012 after spending 40 days in solitary confinement.
For more information, visit Journalism is Not a Crime, documenting cases of jailed journalists in Iran.
This is part of IranWire’s series Crime: Journalism, a portfolio on the legal and political persecution of Iranian journalists and bloggers, published in both Persian and English.
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