Iranian writer and rights lawyer named as recipient of Stus Award (05/27/01)

Iranian writer and rights lawyer named as recipient of Stus Award

NORTH CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The recipient of this year's Vasyl Stus Award, presented annually by PEN New England, is Iranian writer, editor, human rights lawyer, and women's rights activist Mehrangiz Kar. The presentation was held on May 20 at the Radcliffe Institute.

The author of many books on social issues, Ms. Kar was among the first women attorneys who voiced deep concern against the Islamization of gender relations in Iran following the revolution. In particular, she opposed the Islamic government's policy forbidding the practice and study of law for women.

Ms. Kar was arrested and charged with "acting against national security" for her participation in a conference titled "Iran After the Elections," held in Berlin last April to discuss political and social reforms in Iran. Conference attendees, comprising prominent Iranian intellecutals, were detained and interrogated for their attendance at the Berlin conference, considered by members of the Iranian judiciary to be aimed at overthrowing the Islamic regime.

Ms. Kar was among those charged and was incarcerated in the notoriously harsh Evin Prison for a month. After being released on payment of $60,000 (U.S.) bail, she was tried in secret before the Revolutionary Court, whose procedures consistently fall far short of international standards for fairness.

Currently, Ms. Kar is fighting cancer and there are grave concerns for her health.

Named after the poet who was the last Ukrainian writer to die in the Soviet gulag, the Vasyl Stus Award is intended to honor international writers who have shown exemplary courage in the face of physical harm, imprisonment and other forms of brute coercion. The award comes with a $500 honorarium and honorary membership in PEN New England.

In related news, PEN New England's Freedom-to-Write Committee recently hosted three award-winning international writers who discussed the topic - "Soldiers at the Gate: Writers in Enforced Exile." Featured were Faraj Sarkohi, an Iranian fiction writer and magazine-editor, who came from his place of exile, Frankfurt, Germany; Bei Ling, Chinese poet and editor of Tendency Quarterly, now living in Boston; and Alejandra Matus, Chilean journalist and author of "The Black Book of Chilean Justice," now living in Miami.

The panel discussion was held at Harvard's Bunting Institute.

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