Feminist Peace Network

From the Women’s Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran E-Zan Volume 33 February 15th 2007:
Commentary:

“As the debate over Iran take center stage in Washington again, many are wondering about the extent of Tehran’s role and influence in Iraq. To this end, Dianne Sawyer of ABC News took a trip to Iran and interviewed Ahmadinejad on various topics including his regime’s meddling in Iraq. The holier- than-thou Ahmadinejad flirted his way through an interview with Diane Sawyers, lobbing along the way dovish statements such as that Iran opposes “any” proliferation of nuclear weapons and remains open to negotiations with the West. At the end of the interview, Ahmadinejad jokingly chastised her for asking tough and “combative” questions and lectured her about how “women should not be asking tough questions about war, women should ask about love, culture and family”. The president of the misogynous regime in Tehran is incapable to see women beyond what is defined by their system of gender apartheid, hence his advice to Sawyer. With such a inherit backwardedness and anti- historic mindset , no wonder a woman-led movement shakes this regime’s foundation and frightens its rank and file. Many still tend to willingly or unwillingly turn a blind eye on Tehran’s fundamentalist agenda in the region, particularly in Iraq. The debate over more American troops vs. withdrawal of troop among members of US Congress is ignoring a third option in resolving Iraqi crisis. There is another option on table that Washington has failed to see and that is to rely on the democratic Iraqis who are aligning themselves with democratic Iranian opposition in confronting Tehran. Washington must realize that bullets and tanks will not solve the spread of Islamic Fundamentalism in Iraq. Just as it would not resolve the nuclear crisis with Tehran. Instead, it is the progressive and secular Muslim movement, led by women, which will defeat such phenomenon. In Iran’s case, this movement is led by Maryam Rajavi, popular among Iranians, she also enjoys a tremendous popularity among Iraqi women of all backgrounds including Shiite, Sunni and Kurds. Time is of the essence. Failure to recognize the third option in Iraq and Iran will lead to continuous escalation of violence. Among such tragic violence is the recent assassination of president of the Iraqi Women Syndicate (IWS), Ms. Amereh Abdul-Karim Al- Aqabi in Iraq. She was abducted by Tehran’s fundamentalist agents and brutally murdered in Iraq.”

News:

“State-run News Agency Aftab - January 17, 2007 One Ahmadinejad’s cabinet minister, in a meeting with heads of the Department of Health and Human Services, suggested that sexual intercourse between man and women must be regulated to a specific timing of a day to avoid birth defects. In the meeting he said: “in order to avoid and reduce the birth defects these regulations have to be put in place. These are some of the recommendation by religious edicts. They have proven to be effective and must be in practice”. He referred to a religious narrative that suggest sex at night will result in healthier babies.

NCRI Website - January 18, 2007 The mullahs’ agents abducted and brutally murdered president of the Iraqi Women Syndicate (IWS), Ms. Amereh Abdul-Karim Al-Aqabi in Iraq. Ms. Al-Aqabi was one of the fierce opponents of the Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraq. She was also one of the co-sponsors of the historic statement by 5.2 million Iraqis in June 2006 which called for eviction of the mullahs’ regime from her country. Ms. Al-Aqabi was involved in extensive activities to improve the role of Iraqi women in the society. As the president of IWS, she led a major resistance against fundamentalism and increasing restrictions imposed on Iraqi women. In a letter to the speaker of the Iraqi National Assembly and Vice-President, she wrote, “I, as a patriotic Iraqi woman, in solidarity with female members of the Mojahedin in Ashraf City, home to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), call for reaffirmation of the political refugee status of 1000 Mojahedin women who are against the mullahs’ regime in Iran.” The Iranian Resistance expresses its condolences to Al-Aqabi family and calls for condemnation of the gruesome murder by international human rights organizations as well as women rights organizations. It reiterates on the need for a firm stance in regards with export of terrorism by the regime to Iraq. Last June 5.2 million Iraqis in their statement called for the eviction of the regime from Iraq and reminded the mullahs’ crimes such as “mass murders, assassination of national figures, abductions and ever more growing waves of arbitrary arrests in Iraq.” It went on to add that the Iranian regime has targeted “security, life, and democracy” in Iraq and had pushed the country to the brink of virtual collapse.

AKI News Agency - January 23, 2007 Delara Darabi, a 20-year-old Iranian woman sentenced to death on charges she killed a cousin when she was 17, tried to kill herself at Tehran’s Evin prison. Her mother told Tehran daily Etemad that her daughter is clinically depressed and only weighs 35 kilos. Dozens of petitions have been made worldwide since Delara’s story caught the attention of the international media after a journalist who had been following her story organized a show with paintings Delara made during her imprisonment. Delara denies she killed her cousin. The exhibition of her paintings, entitled ‘Prisoner of colours’, was organised by journalist Assieh Amini in October last year at Tehran’s Golestan gallery. A minors’ tribunal sentenced Darabi to death for knifing to death her 17- year-old cousin with the help of a young man, 21, who was sentenced to ten years in jail. Darabi’s attorney, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, has pleaded her innocence in the first trial and two appeal cases in vain.

AKI News Agency - January 26, 2007 The increasing number of women in Iranian universities is worrying Iran’s authorities and parliament is discussing a draft law to limit access to female students. Today, 65 percent of university students in Iran are women. The MPs with the ultra conservative Osulgarayan (loyal to principles) political faction of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced it will soon present the bill to “rebalance the university’s population,” claiming that the large number of women attending secondary education is undermining Iranian society. Osulgarayan MPs in fact claim that the rise of women graduates has contributed to raise the number of divorces in Iran.”Once they get a degree, many young women refuse to stay home and take care of their husband and children and want to work, which is mainly why so many marriages end,” said this week Rad Ali Tahmasebi, one of the lawmakers who drafted the bill. Tahmasebi also blamed the increase in the average marrying age of women on university attendance, noting that this too was a “threat for an Islamic society such as Iran’s.” In the previous reformist legislature prior to the election in June 2005 of Ahmadinejad, a similar proposal by conservative MPs had been blocked by the then majority coalition.

NCRI Website - February 2, 2007 Yesterday, Chief of the regime’s Appeals’ Courts in Tehran Province, Mohammad Ali Khani admitted to handing down stoning sentences, the state-run daily Etemaad reported. He said, “If the law proves that the crime has been committed then judges would hand down stoning sentences. The law makers will not allow a substitute sentence for the crime. Stoning to death is a form of punishment which is different from [mere] execution.� On June 27, 2006, the regime has sentenced a woman, Ashraf Kalhori, to death by stoning. The regime often announces such cruel punishments as hangings to cover the stoning sentences in Iran.

State-run News Agency Aftab - February 2, 2007 Sarfaraz Iyzadi, a member of Education and Scientific Research Committee of parliament claimed, “Before the revolution [in 1979], there were certain restriction on female attendance in some scientific fields such as Mine [Engineering], Agricultural [Engineering], and Mechanical [Engineering] which they did not agree with the women’s physical strength.� Another member of parliament, Fatemeh Hyedar-Pour said about the plan, “If our women want to pursue science and technology, they should seek such skills useful to their households. Women should not seek more than their share of the society.� Such misogynistic comments made by the regime’s leaders come at time when they admit that women’s admissions, with all discriminations against women in Iran, in the higher education schools throughout the nation are greater than men.

AKI News Agency - February 4, 2007 An Iranian rights group said on Friday that a Tehran appeals court upheld a death sentence against Delara Darabi, 20, who allegedly killed a cousin three years ago when was minor. On 22 January, Delara’s mother told Tehran daily Etemad that her daughter had tried to kill herself at the capital’s Evin prison where she is detained. Dozens of petitions have been made worldwide since Delara’s story caught the attention of the international media after a journalist who had been following her story organized a show with paintings Delara made during her imprisonment. Delara denies she killed her cousin. The exhibition of her paintings, entitled ‘Prisoner of colours’, was organized by journalist Assieh Amini in October last year at Tehran’s Golestan gallery. A minors’ tribunal sentenced the young woman to capital punishment for knifing to death her 17-year-old cousin with the help of a young man, 21, who was sentenced to ten years in jail. Delara’s attorney, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, has pleaded her innocence in the first trial and two appeal cases in vain. Delara is one of 24 young Iranians who are awaiting to be executed for a crime they allegedly committed when they were minors.

NCRI Website - February 9, 2007 The Iranian Resistance calls on all international women’s human rights organizations to try for freedom of a 62-year-old political prisoner, Mrs. Zahra Aliqoli who has been imprisoned in the mullahs’ regime’s dungeons since summer of 2006. In previous years, she had been imprisoned and tortured by the regime twice. Mrs. Aliqoli’s poor health is of great concern in prison. She has been tried by the mullahs’ judiciary on the charges of visiting her children in Ashraf City, home to the members of People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) in Iraq. Mrs. Aliqoli’s daughter, Shahnaz Aliqoli was imprisoned by the regime for five years and later executed in 1988. In 1981, she was arrested and imprisoned for the first time with her husband. In 1986, for second time, she was imprisoned and tortured severely by the regime’s henchmen. The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights as well as women’s rights organizations to condemn the regime’s crimes and take urgent measures to save the life of Mrs. Aliqoli and other political prisoners in Iran.”

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