Mehrangiz Kar

[6][7] She was arrested on 29 April 2000, for participating in a Berlin academic conference on political and social reform in Iran with leading Iranian writers and intellectuals.

She was tried behind closed doors with no right to a lawyer and sentenced to four years in prison on grotesque and arbitrary charges such as "actions contrary to national security" and "violating the Islamic dress code.

Her husband, Siamak Pourzand, who was also an outspoken critic of the regime, vanished after she left, and Mehrangiz faced intense pressure from Teheran to keep her lips quiet.

She attempted to obtain information about her husband through official agencies and human rights organizations, as well as her and her daughters Leila and Azadeh's appeals to foreign radio and television networks, were unsuccessful.

[14] She is the widow of Siamak Pourzand, a fellow Iranian dissident and former prisoner of conscience[15] who committed suicide on 29 April 2011, after a long period of torture and imprisonment.