NAJMEH VAHEDI AND HODA AMID

 NAJMEH VAHEDI AND HODA AMID

Najmeh Vahedi is a sociologist and currently studying for her postgraduate degree in women’s studies and Hoda Amid is a lawyer. The two women human rights defenders ran educational workshops together on “terms of marriage” to educate women on their marital and familial legal rights in Iran.

Hoda Amid is a lawyer and women’s rights defender, who had also played a prominent role in educating Iranian women of their rights.

Najmeh Vahedi is a women’s rights defender and sociologist, currently studying for her postgraduate degree in women’s studies. She has been active in raising awareness on social issues in the field of women’s rights, especially the value of women's work in the home.

As a human rights defenders they has been involved in organising and running educational workshops on "terms of marriage" to educate women on their marital and legal rights in Iran.

Hoda Amid and Najmeh Vahedi have also been active in empowering women and girls, including holding workshops on women’s rights in the field of marriage and divorce. One of the main activities of Najmeh Vahedi has been focusing on women’s domestic work and trying to pay attention to the economic value of women’s domestic work and eliminate gender discrimination caused by domestic work.

Hoda Amid and Najmeh Vahedi were arrested in their homes by security forces on 1 September 2018 and spent more than two months in the IRGC’s 2A security ward and were eventually released on bail.

The two women’s rights activists were charged with “collaborating with the hostile America against the Islamic Republic on women and family issues.” According to the verdict, by holding educational marriage workshops on “terms of marriage” and “dowry and housework”, the two women were working “in line with the project of infiltration by weakening the foundation of the family with the aim of overthrowing (the government)” and “collaborating with the hostile America against the Islamic Republic on women and family issues.”

On 31 October 2020, Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran convicted Hoda Amid and Najmeh Vahedi of “cooperating with the hostile US government against the Islamic Republic in matters relating to women and family”, in relation to their women’s rights workshops. Hoda Amid was sentenced to eight years in prison, a two-year travel ban and a two year prohibition from joining any political group or party or being active on social media or to practice law. Najmeh Vahedi was sentenced to seven years in prison and two years prohibited from joining any political group or party or being active on social media.

The sentences were reportedly not communicated to the women human rights defenders until 12 December 2020. On 13 February 2021, Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals upheld the decision.