TEHRAN WOMEN'S DEMO VIOLENTLY BROKEN UP BY POLICE TODAY (Updated, with important corrections, at bottom of this post)

                                   A women's rights demonstration in Tehran (photo above) was violently broken up by police today, Iranian feminists say in an exclusive dispatch just received by DIRELAND from Tehran. Women -- including elderly women -- were beaten, and some were arrested. Among those arrested was Jila Bani Yaghoub, a prominent Iranian journalist, who was led away in handcuffs.

The Iranian feminists report: "Today the women's rights demonstration in Tehran was greeted with  violence. We were beaten severely and many of us were arrested, even  women above the age of 60 were beaten and arrested. The policewomen  were more evil and violent than the policemen. The women used mace and and beat us with batons. A large number of activist women were arrested, [THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IS INACCURATE -- SEE UPDATE BELOW--D.I. including the poet Simin Behbahani (right), who is nearly blind and in her seventies.] The whole world must  know how we women were beaten today. The current political  situation looks ominous, most probably the security forces will  descend on the houses of the women activists tonight and arrest them.  They could not even tolerate this small expression of dissent from  us."

The demands of the women's rights demonstration (photo right) included: banning of polygamy; equal divorce rights: equal child custody rights for mothers and fathers; equal rights in marriage (the right to choose one's employment  freely,  and to travel abroad); an increase in the legal age  to 18 years (currently 9 year old girls and 15 year-old boys are viewed as adults, making them eligible for  trial as adults); equal right in testimony (currently a man's testimony is worth twice  that of a woman's) and elimination of temporary work contracts which negatively impact women.

One blog reports that many women were so badly injured by the police they had to be hospitalized.

UPDATE AT 6:45 PM E.S.T. The BBC has just posted a story on this on its website, which you can read by clicking here.  And the Associated Press has moved a story which you can read by clicking here.  FURTHER UPDATE 10 p.m. e.s.t.  Although the AP dispatch claimed that "a previously unknown group calling itself the Labor and Communist Party" organized the demonstration, I've received multiple denials from Tehran feminists that this is so. Also, I've also received an e-mail from Mohammad Tavakoh-Targhi, chair of the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Toronto at  Mississauga in Canada, to say that Simin Behbahani is currently in Toronto, and therefore could not have been arrested in Tehran as the dispatch above from the Tehran feminists claimed. And Nayereh Tohidi of the Center for Near Eastern Studies at UCLA has e-mailed to say that, "I cannot believe the BBC would report that only 20 women took part in this demo...Today's demonstration was actually held on the first anniversary of a similar demo that took place on June 12, 2005 in which about 3000-5000 women had taken part in front of the University of Tehran. According to many [Persian] weblog reporters and Radio Farda and Radio Germany today, this time (today) about 2000 people came,  but before they could gather in the designated spot of the big square, the police disrupted it and forcefully dispersed people."
.FURTHER UPDATE AND IMPORTANT CORRECTION, 12:21 A.M. EST I have now received confirmation that Simin Behabani was NOT arrested in Tehran and is, indeed, currently in Toronto, from Mansour Bonakdarian, coordinator of the International Society for Iranian Studies--Committee for Academic & Intellectual Freedom. My apologies to DIRELAND readers for the inaccuracies in the above dispatch, which was provided to me by a highly reputable Iranian scholar and author who is in constant touch with the Tehran feminist community, and who asked me on their behalf to distribute it immediately and widely. Unfortunately, the dispatch was not terribly accurate in some of its details, although the violent police break-up of the women's demonstration did, indeed -- as major news media have now confirmed -- take place. UPDATE TUESDAY June 13: The BBC has a followup story on its website on how Iranian bloggers have supported the Tehran women's demonstration, and on how the bloggers' distribution of photos of the women being beaten has aroused widespread anger -- and you can read this BBC story by clicking here..... More information on those arrested at the demonstration and on its sponsorship comes today from Nayereh Tohidi of the Center for Near Eastern Studies at UCLA. She writes that, "Despite ridiculously false reports (so'e originated by the Associated Press) no outside based organizations such as the "Labor & CommunistParty' spearheaded this protest, actually no single organization was behind it. The protest was initiated by a coalition of women's rights activists, Markaz Farhangi (Women's Cultural Center), Hastia Andish andKanoone Zanan, since they have sites, took up most of the informationsharing activities. No NGOs were behind this effort, only individuals, approximately 2000 people who signed the petition. Over 2000 activists."

Tohedi continues:  "According to some official reports (Ministry of Justice) 70 people (42women and 28 men) have been arrested. Moreover, several women activistshave been summoned by the "Revolutionary Court," and may get arrested soon. For more reliable information, check the following:herlandmag.com, hastiandish.org, and kanoone zanan....Simin Behbahani, though one of the most prominent supporters of this rally, was not arrested, she is outside Iran these days (still in Canada). Fariba Davoodi Mohajer has not been arrested, she was only interrogated. NoushinAhmadi Khorasani and Parvin Ardalan have not been arrested yet. According to the latest report, Shahla Entesar and Samira Sadri who were arrested yesterday were just released while several others have been sent to Evin Prison. The arrest of the following activists have been confirmed:Delaram Ali, Jila Bani-yaqub, Taraneh Bani-Yaqub, Bahman Ahmadi Amoei,Farahnaz Sharifi, Amin Qalehyi, Ali-Akbar Mosavi Khoeini, Masoumeh Loqmani, Atefeh Yousefi, Bahareh Hedayat, Delaram Aramfar, Vahid MirJalili, and Firouzeh Mozaffari."