I'm carrying on, says defiant Iranian woman activist Parvin Ardalan

Iranian activist Parvin Ardalan Monday vowed to continue her fighting cause, vowing she would not be intimidated by Iranian authorities after being prevented from going to Sweden to receive her 2007 Palme Prize.

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The jury in February cited Ardalan for 'making the demand for equal rights for men and women a central part of the struggle for democracy in Iran.' The citation noted that she had braved 'persecution, threats and harassment.'

Ardalan, a journalist, was co-founder of the women's cultural centre Markaz-e Farhangi-ye Zanan in the mid-1990s that has raised awareness and documented women's rights in Iran, the jury said.

The office of human rights protection in Tehran, headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, invited Ardalan Monday as guest of honour in a belated ceremony marking International Women's Day.

A speaker at the ceremony said that although Ardalan could not go to Sweden, she was being honoured in Tehran.

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