Around 1,000 political and civil activists expressed support, in an open letter to the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, for the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, Shahindokht Moulaverdi, who was attacked by “Yalsarat weekly” extremist magazine.

The activists requested that the president not overlook the oppression and injustice Iranian women, working in the public sector, are facing while trying to improve woman’s status, in reference to the appointment of the successful Moulaverdi in the position of Assistant to the President for Women’s Affairs, and what she has presented to improve Iranian woman’s conditions. The activists warned the president not to prefer certain interests over others and silence.

“Yalsarat weekly” affiliated with Iranian Hezbollah, has been attacking Shahindokht Moulaverdi for the past two weeks for supporting women’s right activists. The magazine has published articles containing sexual insults and criticized Rouhani for assigning feminist activist for women’s affairs. The magazine also considers the Iranian President to have a liberal vision and does not believe in addressing women who don’t wear hijab and demonstrate modesty.

For her part, Moulaverdi believes Yalsarat Weekly’s attacks was revenge for women’s electoral movements and their signing up for the parliamentary elections and the Assembly of Experts next February. In addition, she slammed the “foul” articles, saying they reveal the political and social costs that women pay in shaping their lives and the fate of their country. “These articles reveal what hazards and costs women have to face, and they try to intimidate women, showing them that even if they become the president’s advisor, they will not be safe from the edge of their razor-sharp insults,” she wrote on her accounts on Facebook and Telegram.

She also added that what that magazine wrote, from abuse to and insult, were “absurd and heinous” expressing her sorrow that these materials were published weekly under the banner of Hezbollah and of Imam Hussein, who do not display the same manners.

Nevertheless, 12 percent out of the 12,123 candidates who submitted their papers were women.