A protester for women's equality in Tehran. As we approach the June 2013 Iranian presidential election, the real frontrunners of the 2009 election, as well as many young activists, remain in prison. But several defining issues continue to fuel the grassroots discontent inside Iran. Frieda Afary of Iranian Progressives in Translation identifies the most significant of these as demands for basic democratic rights and separation of religion and state; demands for labor rights in the face of growing poverty; the demands of an increasingly educated female population for equality before the law; and the demands of national minorities such as the Kurds, Azeris and Arabs for self-determination and federalism.

Photo: International Organisation to Preserve Human Rights in Iran

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