Mick Hartley

In the verdict issued by the new authorities, she was found guilty of “spreading corruption on earth and denying Allah.”
“I would rather face death with open arms than live in disgrace, forcibly covered with a veil. I will not kneel before those who expect me to repent for half a century of my struggle for equality between men and women. I am not prepared to wear the chador and take a step backward in history,” Parsa wrote in her farewell letter to her children.

Farrokhroo Parsa (Persian: فرخرو پارسا; 24 March 1922 – 8 May 1980) was an Iranian physician, educator, and parliamentarian.

She served as minister of education under Amir Abbas Hoveida and was the first female cabinet minister. Parsa was an outspoken supporter of women’s rights in Iran.

During the outset of the Islamic Cultural Revolution, Parsa was executed by firing squad on 8 May 1980 in Tehran due to her feminist beliefs.