Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh

Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh
Born	Khorramshahr, Iran
Occupation(s)	Women's rights activist, scholar, journalist, filmmaker
Known for	Director of Zanan Broadcasting Network; advocacy in Stop Stoning Forever campaign and Iranian Women's Charter; editor-in-chief of Farzaneh journal; head of Association of Women Writers and Journalists

Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh () is a prominent Iranian advocate for women's rights, as well as a scholar, journalist, and filmmaker. She serves as the director of the Zanan Broadcasting Network (www.zanantv.org) and actively participates in initiatives such as the Stop Stoning Forever campaign and the Iranian Women's Charter movement. Abbasgholizadeh has held leadership roles including heading the Association of Women Writers and Journalists and acting as editor-in-chief of the women's studies periodical Farzeneh. Following the closure of her Non-Governmental Organisation Training Centre (NGOTC) in 2004, she has experienced multiple detentions. In 2010, after moving to Europe, Iran's Revolutionary Court sentenced her in absentia to two years and six months imprisonment plus 30 lashes on charges of "actions against national security."

Early life

Abbasgholizadeh was born in Khorramshahr, Iran, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in theology from Tehran University, alongside a BA in Islamic Sciences from Islamic Azad University. She also completed a Master of Science in Communication Sciences at Allameh Tabatabaee University and pursued studies in Arabic literature at Ain Shams University in Cairo. As an active participant in Iran's Islamic Revolution, she developed a focus on feminist readings of the Quran. In 1986, together with Monir Gurji and Monir Amadi, she co-established the Institute of Women's Studies and Research (IWSR), taking on the role of editor for its journal Farzaneh starting in 1993. The journal aimed to advance women's studies as a rigorous academic field aligned with supporting Muslim women's lives. In response to judicial pressure on women's publications in 1997, she founded the Association of Women Writers and Journalists. Her advocacy work also includes efforts to secure women's entry to public sports venues, the Stop Stoning Forever campaign, and promoting the Iranian Women's Charter.

Her first arrest occurred on 1 November 2004 following a speech delivered in Bangkok; during this time her belongings were seized and NGOTC was forcibly closed. On 4 March 2007, she was detained once more during a peaceful demonstration ahead of International Women's Day and spent over a month incarcerated at Evin Prison. A third arrest took place on 21 December 2009 when she tried to attend the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri amid unrest after the elections; she was freed after 24 hours under the condition that she remove her films from her collective’s website. In May 2010, she was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment plus 30 lashes for "acts against national security" through conspiracy and defiance.

In recognition of her commitment to freedom of expression and press, Abbasgholizadeh received the Johann Philipp Palm Prize in 2010. She currently lectures on Women's Social Movements within Muslim societies at the University of Connecticut.

Writing

• "Chirā Farzānah?" [Why Farzaneh?], Farzaneh 1 (Fall 1993)
• "The Experience of Islamic Feminism in Iran," Farzaneh 15, no. 10 (Winter 2000): 7-14

Films

• Women Behind Bars

Further reading

• Lichter, Ida. "Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Fereshteh Ghazi," featured in Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices against Oppression, Prometheus Books, 2009, pp. 142–144