Mehrangiz Kar

Mehrangiz Kar was born in 1944 in the southern Iranian city of Ahvaz, Iran. She attended elementary, middle and high school in Ahvaz, leaving in 1953 to enter the Department of Law and Political Science at Tehran University. In 1957 she completed her studies and went to work at Sazman-e Ta'min-e Ejtemaii (the Institute of Social Security). In 1959 she married journalist named Siamak Pourzand. Before the Iranian revolution, Kar was active in the Iranian press, writing for such publications as Ferdowsi magazine on a wide variety of social issues of the day. Almost invariably, she was pictured alongside her articles without the hejab that has become de rigeur in contemporary Iran, sporting short hair. Following the revolution these images would be used against her. Mehrangiz Kar is an attorney, writer and activist working toward the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and human rights within the framework of Islamic law in Iran. She has been an active public defender in Iran’s civil and criminal courts, and has published regularly in several influential and independent Iranian journals. Ms. Kar has used international forums as a platform for voicing her opinions and advocating for the democratic, political, legal, constitutional, and human rights of the Iranian people. Until the year 2000, Kar continued to work on human rights cases brought up in the context of the Islamic Penal Code in particular. She wrote articles for the nascent reformist press as well as such publications as the pioneering monthly women’s review Zanan, worked as a human rights and women’s activist, as well as a researcher. A common theme throughout her work was the tension between the law on the books and core principles of human rights and human dignity. Throughout this time, the conservative press and the establishment blackened her reputation at every opportunity, accusing Kar of importing foreign ideas, Western vice and beyond. At least twice, she tried to initiate a women’s advocacy NGO but was denied permission to register it under the country’s laws. For a complete biography, log onto http://www.mehrangizkar.com/english/biography.php