Mehrangiz Kar

Mehrangiz Kar (b. 1944; Ahvaz, Iran) is a prominent Iranian lawyer, human right activist and author.

Mehrangiz Kar is one of the most celebrated activists in the history of women movement in Iran which dates back to almost two centuries ago.

Mehangiz Kar was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University and in the 2005/06 academic year was based at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

She has also been recognized as a Scholar at Risk through an international network of universities and colleges working to promote academic freedom and to defend the human rights of scholars worldwide.

In 2002, the U.S. First Lady, Laura Bush, gave her the National Endowment for Democracy's Democracy award.

Awards and honours

 * 2004 Recipient of the annual Human Rights First (formerly Lawyers Committee For Human Rights) Human Rights Award
 * 2002 Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize (France) for a lawyer working to promote women’s human rights, awarded jointly by the Human Rights Institute of the Bar of Bordeaux and the European Lawyers Union.
 * 2002 Democracy Award of the National Endowment for Democracy (U.S.), for advancing human rights and democracy.
 * 2002 Hellman/Hammett Grant from Human Rights Watch (International) for a writer who is a target of political persecution.
 * 2001 Vasyl Stus Freedom-to-Write Award of PEN New England (Massachusetts, U.S.), for a writer who has struggled in the face of oppression and brutality to make her voice heard.
 * 2000 PEN/NOVIB Award of PEN Clube (Netherlands), for writers who have lost their liberty for political and ideological reasons.
 * 2000 Donna Dell’anno Award of the Conseil De Lavallee Consiglio Regionale Della Valle D’aosta (Italy), for persevering in the fight for freedom and the defense of women’s rights.
 * 2000 Latifeh Yarshater Award of the Society for Iranian Studies (U.S.), for the best book on Iranian women.
 * 1975 Forough Faroukhzad Award (Iran), for best article.