Mrs. Kaar is a human rights activist, lawyer, writer, essayist, and former editor of a now-banned literary review. Her work as an activist for women's rights often put her in conflict with authorities of the ruling Islamic Republic. She has published widely on women's issues in Iran. Her publications include Children of Addiction: Social and Legal Position of the Children of Addicted Parents in Iran (1990); Quest for Identity: the Image of Iranian Women in Prehistory and History Vol.1 and 11, (Vol.1 1992, volume 11 compiled and ready for print), which she co-edited with Shahla Lahiji, Iran's first woman publisher; Angel of Justice and Patches of Hell, a collection of essays which look at the status and position of women in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran; Women in the Iranian Labor Market (1994); and Legal Structure of the Family System in Iran.

They were detained in Evin Prison until they were both released on bail on 21 June 2000. They were subsequently tried in a closed session, under conditions grossly short of the minimum international standards for fair trials, and on vaguely worded charges undefined in the law but summarised as "acting against national security" or "spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic regime" in the context of Articles 498 and 500 of the Law of Islamic Punishment.

Mehrangiz Kaar is to be additionally tried on charges of "violating the Islamic dress code at the Berlin Conference", "denying the commands of the shari‘a" and "abusing sacred principles". On 13 January 2001, both women were convicted and sentenced to four years imprisonment on charges of "acting against national security and disseminating propaganda against the Islamic regime". Kaar is believed to have been facing additional charges at the Civil Court for violating the observance of hejab (the full head and body covering required of women), denying its necessity in Islam, and propagating against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Accusations relating to the observance of hejab are reportedly particularly common against women whom the authorities wish to intimidate and harass.

Following her release on bail, Mrs. Kaar was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has undergone a vasectomy and a course of chemotherapy in Iran but requires urgent medical treatment and surgery overseas. She is currently in the United States, where she is receiving ongoing medical treatment for breast cancer. Mehrangiz Kaar's appeal hearing concluded in November 2001; however, the verdict was not announced until 2002.

Realising the more profound danger in submitting to censorship, Mehrangiz and her daughters decided to expose the situation and spoke with representatives of the media and human rights orgaisations. Mehrangiz has appeared on PBS television, and has spoken on VOA, BBC, NPR, RFI and numerous other European radio networks in the hope that international pressure will help save her husband. Their many attempts to get information concerning Siamak's condition and the status of his case from various government entities and the Parliament's Article 90 Committee in Iran has met with failure.

Since Siamak Pourzand went missing on 24 November, there are unconfirmed reports that he has been arrested by the Iranian intelligence services. It is thought that his disappearance may be connected to his position as manager of the Majmue-ye Farrhangi-ye Honari-ye Tehran, a cultural centre for writers, artists and intellectuals. Pourzand is also known for his articles that are critical of the Islamic regime, and is said to have been recently working with Iranian foreign-based media. Pourzand, aged 71, suffers from diabetes and a heart complaint.

However, it was announced by the security forces of the government weeks after his disappearance that Mr. Pourzand is in an undisclosed Jail.

Siamak Pourzand was sentenced by a Tehran court to eight years in prison on charges of "espionage and threatening national security, receiving millions of US dollars to be distributed among Iranian reform seeking journalists and collaboration with Monarchists and counter-revolutionary groups after a four-month period of detention in which no clear charges were levelled. Denied of lawyer, his sentence was increased to eleven years and possible accusation of "moharebeh", or fighting God was also considered, a charge that carries death penalty under Islamic laws.

Iranian and international press and human rights organisations have denounced the arrest of Mr. Pourzand while hundreds of Iranians of all walk have signed a petition urging the Iranian ruling clerics to free him, or let him be tried in an open court with the presence of lawyer and independent international jurists.

The Ludovic Tarieux International Prize for Human Rights was set up in memory of Ludovic Tarieux (1840-1904), a lawyer at the Bar of Bordeaux, southwest of France. Minister of Justice (1898), his unflinching commitment as a supporter of the Alfred Dreyfus case and his role in the 1998 creation of the French League for the Defence of Human Rights and the Citizen, a movement totally independent of any political or religious belief, with the aim to ensure the enforcement of the rights of individual and the liberty to protect its principles.

Established in 1984, the HRIBB is a private, nonprofits, grant-making organisation that offered its first Ludovic Tarieux Prize to Nelson Mandella, then still in prison in South Africa. The Ludovic Tarieux International prize for Human Rights goes to a lawyer, regardless of nationality or Bar, who, by his/her activities or suffering, will have illustrated the defence of human rights, supremacy of law and struggle against racism and intolerance in any form. ENDS KAAR AWARDED 26502