Mois : avril 2006

The appointment in July 2005 of a woman, Laurence Parisot, to head the Medef, le Mouvement des Entreprises de France, the country’s leading employers’ association, was a minor revolution. Her election is the « symbol of a modernity and boldness that was not necessarily expected of France’s employers », declared her predecessor, Ernest-Antoine Seillière; and Laurence Parisot is already flaunting her difference by her style: T-shirt and trousers, short hair, no make-up, we are a long way from the traditional « suit, tie and cigar » associated with the boss. But it is above all in her attitude that she is breaking new ground. « I define myself as a liberal, » she goes so far as to declare, when « this word has become a swearword in France », as one boss has whispered.

Laurence Parisot – France

But Laurence Parisot is setting out « to prove that liberal does not mean antisocial » and to do it by « explaining the economy to the French ». Her credo: « When business wins, everyone wins », and she is demanding greater flexibility in the labour market and tax cuts. « Life, health, love are insecure, why should work not be subject to the same law? », she ventures to ask. Her formula? « What’s good is what works. » (Read the rest of this article on www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/ ).

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Linked with our presentation of Sanctioning of Iran by Iranians.

She is a Visiting Scholar, Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.

She joins the statement: Censorship is obscene, not women.

Golbarg Bashi – USA & Iran

She writes: I travelled to Iran the same year that Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Noble Peace Prize and
Zahra Kazemi was murdered in the dungeons of the Islamic Republic – the year was 2003. The two women who made Iran headline news in 2003 were from the same generation of feminist activists; Shirin Ebadi participating in the Reform movement as a human rights activist and lawyer, and Zahra Kazemi as a Canada-based photographer covering demonstrations in support of the Reform movement. Ebadi, a former judge, had helped change Iranian law to grant mothers custody of their sons until the age of seven (previously it was two), and raise the minimum age of marriage to 13 for girls and 15 for boys. Kazemi was audaciously in the streets taking photographs of the newfound hope the Reform movement had installed in Iranian people, now demanding freedom and democracy, for which she was arrested and died after having been subjected to torture and rape. (Read the rest of this long text of 23 pages on ParsTimes.com).

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Linked with our presentation of Human Rights Defenders Project – Bangladesh.

Probir Sikdar is a journalist from Faridpur writing for the Daily Janakantha. On 20 April 2001, during the time of the Awami League government, Probir Sikdar was confronted by a group of men threatening to kill him. While on his way on a motorbike to Faridpur he was stopped by few men who hurled a hand made bomb at him. These men also opened fired at him with their guns, spraying him with bullets and also attacked him with a long knife, attempting to sever his right hand. They then left the scene. He was taken to a hospital in Faridpur and from there to a hospital Dhaka. His left arm became dysfunctional from the knife attack and the doctors amputated his right leg which had been severely injured as a result of bullet wounds. He was later sent to Singapore for further treatment and, as a result, his left arm began to recover its movement. He is now using an artificial limb in place of his amputated leg.

Probir Sikdar – Bangladesh

Why: The attack on Probir Sikdar is believed to have been carried out by men hired by an alleged criminal whom Probir had written about outlining his links to a number of crimes during the liberation war in 1971. Probir also wrote a number of articles opposing terrorism, political crimes, fundamentalism, illegal activities of the government administration and law enforcement agencies of Bangladesh, which have reportedly fuelled further hostility towards him.

Legal Redress: Probir Sikdar’s brother-in-law filed a complaint with the police while Probir was receiving treatment for his critical injuries. The brother-in-law was unaware of all the circumstances of the attack so the complaint did not include the names of the likely culprits. An investigation officer met Probir Sikdar several times in Dhaka. Each time, Probir gave them the names and other information he had about the attackers. However, the names of the suspects were missing from the charge sheet.

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Action alert ! – Linked with our presentations of Centro Integral de Atención a las Mujeres (CIAM), and of Alert for Lydia Cacho Ribeiro – Mexico. And linked with Defending Women-Defending-Rights.org

Help Protect Mexican Women’s Rights Defender: Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, president of the Women’s Assistance Center in Cancun, Mexico, was charged with criminal defamation after implicating prominent businessmen in a child pornography ring. Evidence suggests that the prosecution was initiated to silence her activism on behalf of women and children. If she is convicted, she could face up to four years in prison. Lydia Cacho Riberio is a journalist and writter.

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro – Mexico

Born Mexico City april 1963. She is the daughter of Oscar Cacho, Engineer, and the French Feminist of portuguese origins, Paulette Ribeiro, a psicollogist that worked for more than 40 years in Mexico City as a therapist and an education activist in women´s rights (died 2002).

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro has published more than 1000 news and articles in mexican newspapers and she is Editor of the gender speciallized magazine Esta Boca es Mìa. She has also published pollitical essays, together with the University of Nuevo Leon, the University of Austin, Texas and the Universite Laval in Quebec, Canada.

She published the novel « Las provincias del alma » Ed. Demac 2001. A fiction story based on a true story about a houswife with HIV who dies of AIDS in Cancun, Mexico. Recently Random House-Grijalvo published an investigative report on Child pornography and organized crime. The story of Jean Succar Kuri a lebanesse pedophile who lives in Los Angeles California.

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Linked to IRANIAN PERSONALITIES ON THE ATOMIC CRISIS.

He co-signed an appeal to Iranian authorities on
July 2005 to release immediately Akbar Ganji. See also Akbar Ganji – Iran.

Excerpt: … This conference featured the participation of Ms. Leili Pourzand (Lawyer Women’s Issues researcher), Soudabeh Arghavan (Political Prisoner), Professor Sa’id Mahmoudi, Dr. Ne’mat Ahmadi (Lawyer), Dr. Khosro Shakeri and Mehdi Khanbaba Tehrani, and me. We each gave our views for twenty minutes to the members of the parliament, followed by a question and answer period … read more on Payvand’s Iran News.

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sorry, no picture available of Mehdi Khanbaba-Tehrani – Europe & Iran

See also Democracy Digest.

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Human Rights Watch writes about Iran: Legal Constraints on Free Expression: The right to free expression is enshrined in the Iranian constitution and in international human rights treaties ratified by Iran. Article 23 of the Iranian constitution holds that “the investigation of individuals’ beliefs is forbidden, and no one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief.”177

Article 24 safeguards press freedoms.178

Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iran ratified in 1975, states, “Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference,” and that “everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.”179

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