Iran has banned an aide to Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi and a peace activist from travelling abroad, according to the website of Ebadi's rights group the Human Rights Defenders Centre.
Narges Mohammadi, deputy head of the centre, and Soraya Azizpanah were stopped on Friday at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport as they were headed to Guatemala, the group said, reported AFP.
It said the two women were on way to Guatemala to speak about the role of women in democracy at a conference being held from May 10 to 12.
"They were prevented from travelling after their passports were stamped... and they were about to board," it said. "Officials seized their passports and they have to report to refer to the revolutionary court."
The centre founded by five prominent human rights lawyer and headed by Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel peace winner, has faced mounting pressure in recent months and its office was shut down in a police raid in December.
The centre's former secretary Jinous Sobhani was detained for about two months for links with the banned Bahai faith and released on bail in March.
The group is an outspoken critic of the human rights situation in Iran.
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