Iranian feminist prize winner barred from leaving country
Published: Monday, March 03, 2008
ARDALAN-OLOF PALME PRIZE-IRAN
Tehran, March 3 (AFP)—Iranian feminist and journalist Parvin Ardalan said on Monday that she was prevented from leaving the country to receive her 2007 Olof Palme Prize in Stockholm.
"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," Ardalan told AFP.
Ardalan, 41, was honored last month for "making the demand for equal rights for men and women a central part of the struggle for democracy in Iran," the Olof Palme Memorial Fund announced.
"They took my passport and asked me to refer to the presidential office department for passport affairs after 72 hours to take it back," she said. "They told me that I still have an open (judicial) case, which is not true."
She said she had been summoned to court on February 24 for unknown reasons.
© Agence France-Presse 2008. All rights reserved.