Committee of Human Rights Reporters: On Wednesday, 28th January, prison officials prevented Somayeh Rashidi from meeting with her family, despite the fact that Ms. Rashidi, an activist in the women’s movement, had previously announced over the telephone that those investigating her case had given permission for such meetings.

It should be said that the Rashidi family lives in Mashhad, several hundred kilometres to the east of Tehran, and had come a great distance in order to visit their child, only to find that because of the opposition of judicial officials they were unable to meet with her.

It is important to note that the lawyers for this case, Afrouz Maghzi and Zohreh Arzani, have been unable to meet with their client, a written request from Somayeh Rashidi notwithstanding.

Somayeh Rashidi was summoned to the Revolutionary Court on 20th December 2009. The summons was presented to her after her house had been searched. Subsequent to appearing in court she was arrested and taken to Evin Prison. Rashidi, who is an activist with the One Million Signatures Campaign, had already in the current academic year been banned from continuing with her MA in women’s studies on account of her political activities.