( CNN ) -- As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month , the spotlight was once again on Iran . And true to form , the Iranian president made his fair share of provocative statements for the Western media . But while Ahmadinejad 's mercurial rants captured our media 's attention , back in Iran a coordinated strategy against the women 's movement continued . On the eve of Ahmadinejad 's arrival to New York , Shiva Nazar Ahari , a prominent young female defender of human rights , received a heavy sentence of six years in prison on charges including the vague crime of `` waging war against God '' -- a convenient catch-all offense for anyone who criticizes the regime and its human rights record . There 's no denying it -- Iran 's women have had a bad year . Nazar Ahari joins a steadily increasing number of other women 's rights activists who are in prison for no greater crime than their attempt to fight for the rights of the women . Hengameh Shahidi , Alieh Eghdam Doust , Bahareh Hedayat and Mahdiyeh Golrou have all been sent to Tehran 's notorious Evin Prison on trumped-up charges related to their activism . And while Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi , arguably the most internationally recognized Iranian women 's rights activist , remains unable to safely return to her country , the government is targeting those affiliated with her for arrest and imprisonment , including her lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and her former aide Jinous Sobhani . Since the 2009 disputed elections and associated government crackdown on the overall reform movement , the government has increasingly targeted women activists . The reasons behind this go well beyond the misogynist nature of Iran 's religious leadership . Rather , it is more part of a deliberate and calculated strategy of the Iranian authorities to strike at the heart of the regime 's greatest vulnerability -- internal legitimacy with its own people . See more CNN.com opinion articles . Iran 's government recognizes and fears the broader power of the women activists who have been on the front line of reform in Iran for more than a decade . One can roughly draw an analogy between the women 's movement in Iran to movements of religious groups in Burma or Tibet , or the labor `` solidarity '' movements in the former Eastern bloc and associated labor-Roman Catholic solidarity in Poland -- all advocating initially for the freedoms of a specific group but which provoked government fears for their transformative power to promote broader human rights progress . While the outside world occasionally reacts to the most egregious manifestations of Iran 's repression of women -- such as the international condemnation associated with Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani , an Iranian widow sentenced to stoning on charges of alleged adultery -- these events are often portrayed simply as a consequence of the regime 's archaic viewpoint about gender . However , the government 's direct targeting of women goes beyond chauvinism and is an integral part of a strategy to quell any momentum for larger internal reform . Women activists in Iran have worked for years at the ground level to promote internal change . Although Iran 's women suffered a significant setback with the imposition of discriminatory laws following the 1979 revolution , an ease in restrictions during Mohammad Khatami 's presidential term in the late 1990s and early 2000s allowed women to organize around reforms and emerge as a formidable grass-roots force in civil society . Women-led campaigns to collect signatures in support of reform of gender discriminatory laws and protest the stoning of women formed and grew rapidly , attracting many members and international attention . In the years that followed , women were often at the forefront of staging public protests . During the presidential election campaign in 2009 , women activists , drawing on their grass roots and organizational experience , played a critical role in shaping and influencing the political platforms of the opposition candidates . So when the government set out to suppress the larger civil unrest that broke out in Iran 's major cities after the election , it set its sights on a perceived catalyst for this unrest -- the well-established women 's movement . In the mass indictments issued in August 2009 by Tehran 's prosecutor general , women were identified as an element of an alleged `` soft '' revolution . Women 's rights activists report that government interrogators warned them to cease their activities and accused them of supplying the political opposition with organizational and leadership skills and knowledge . Today the regime continues to systematically target the women 's movement , whose leading campaigners are being silenced , imprisoned and exiled in increasing numbers . It 's not sufficient for members of the international community to speak up only occasionally at the most shocking manifestations of the Iranian regime 's targeting of women . Rather , a sustained , consistent and broader campaign must be waged that seeks to promote and give voice to the major catalysts of comprehensive human rights progress in Iran -- its brave women activists . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gissou Nia .
Women 's rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari serving six years for `` waging war against God '' Nia : Women 's rights activists are imprisoned for no crime other than fighting for women 's rights . Nia believes Iran targets women activists to curb any momentum for larger internal reform . Comment: