Maryam Hosseinkhah is a journalist and a women’s rights activist. She was a member of the Million Signatures Campaign which opposed discrimination and sexism against women. Hosseinkhah also wrote a number of blog posts and articles for sites such as Zanistan (“Women-istan”) and Changes for Equality.

Hosseinkhah was a member of Zanistan’s editorial board, the first online journal for women’s rights, as well as for the editorial board of the Changes for Equality site. The latter was among the initiators of the Million Signatures Campaign which called for changes to Iranian laws that discriminate against women.

In mid-November 2007, Zanistan was blocked and all involved in the Million Signatures Campaign were arrested soon after. On November 17, Hosseinkhah was summoned to the Special Security Prosecutor’s Offices for interrogation. She was referred to the Revolutionary Courts on November 18; during her interrogation, she was arrested and transferred to Evin Prison, where she spent 45 days before being released on bail.

Hosseinkhah’s initial bail was set at 100 million tomans which was later reduced to a bank guarantee of 5 million tomans.

The charges against Hosseinkhah were “disturbing public opinion,” “propaganda against the state,” as well as “publishing falsehoods through publishing content on the Zanistan and Changes for Equality websites.”

On August 18, 2008, Hosseinkhah’s trial was heard in court and she was sentenced to six months in prison on the charge of “propaganda against the state.”

Hosseinkhah’s appeal against the verdict led to an appeal, on January 27, 2009, resulting in her six-month sentence being changed to a four-years delayed jail sentence. Hosseinkhah fled Iran after her release on bail and now lives in London.

After leaving Iran, Hosseinkhah wrote the book “Thirty Five Years in Hijab” which looked at widespread women’s rights violations in Iran. She also works as a human rights researcher.