Zan was an Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian newspaper focused on women's rights

Women's rights

Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...

, published from 1998 until it was banned in 1999.

Zan was founded by Faezeh Hashemi

Faezeh Hashemi

Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani is an Iranian journalist, women rights activist, former member of Iranian parliament, and daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani....

 in July 1998, becoming "the first-ever women's newspaper in Iran, competing for readership with established dailies and inserting women into the very heart of the political struggle between Modernists and Traditionalists". It was quickly harassed by the hard-line judiciary

Judicial system of Iran

A nationwide judicial system in Iran was first implemented and established by Abdolhossein Teymourtash under Reza Shah, with further changes during the second Pahlavi era....

, with reporter Camelia Entekhabifard

Camelia Entekhabifard

Camelia Entekhabifard is an Iranian journalist and author who now lives in New York City....

arrested and held for 76 days, and the newspaper itself banned in 1999.