Iranian Suppression Of Women Continues Unabated

From Women’s Forum Against Fundamentalism In Iran (WFAFI):

Amnesty International – August 17, 2008  An Iranian woman been sentenced to 100 lashes, after being found guilty of adultery at a retrial. The woman, Shamaheh Ghorbani, claims that she only said she was having a relationship with a man found at her house to ensure that her husband and brothers, who stabbed the man to death, were not charged with murder.Shamameh Ghorbani, aged 34, had originally been sentenced to execution by stoning in June 2006 after her brothers and husband murdered a man they found in her house, and she too was nearly killed when they stabbed her. The men were convicted of deserved or ‘legitimate’ murder and received a sentence of six years’ imprisonment. In a letter to the court submitted by her lawyer during her first trial she said: “Since I am a rural, illiterate woman and I didn’t know the law, I thought that if I confessed to a relationship with the dead man, I could clear my brothers and husband of intentional murder. I said these untrue words in court and then understood I had done myself an injury.”

Women’s Association website – Aug. 17, 2008 Zeinab Bayazidi has been sentenced to four years imprisonment and banishment to Zanjan for choosing a Kurdish name for her store and active participation in the One Million Signature Campaign. Zeinab, 26, an active member of the One Million Signature Campaign, was summoned to the Deparment of Intelligence 40 days ago. The court held her hearing in the absence of a lawyer and sentenced her to four years in jail and banishment to Zanjan. She is presently on the sixth day of her hunger strike, objecting to the verdict issued by the preliminary court. Zeinab, a computer sciences student, owned a cosmetics store in Mahabad called ‘Zeilan’, which is a Kurdish name for a kind of plant.

Society and People Farsi blog – Aug. 18, 2008 Around 286 Iranian women have been sold in Fujaira, U.A.E., reported Sharq newspaper on 26th May. An Iranian pilot, Mostafa Ibn Yahya, who works in Emirates Airlines, announced that an average 10 to 15 girls are transferred from Iran to Dubai every day on nine direct flights and 20 indirect flights. In addition, dead bodies of three to five girls are sent back to Iran every month

NCRI Website – August 19, 2008 At the same time with the opening of moppet show on the grounds of Tehran’s International Exhibitions Hall, the State Security Forces – mullahs’ suppressive police – has added to its chastity patrols to control what it called “immoral behavior.” The patrols would stop women on their way to watch the show to check what they wear to the event. The Iranian women are all too familiar with the mullahs’ suppressive measures. However, the members of the SSF teams would also stop foreigners who are not at all used to such insulting behavior by the police in their countries. To make sure that foreigners do not miss out anything, the SSF has brought in English speaking agents to do the job. “It has created a bizarre situation,” said one eyewitness. “Ahmadinejad government is making every effort to embarrass the Iranian people. We have gotten used to such degrading and suppressive measures over the years and are fighting them in our own ways. But the poor few women from other countries living in Iran have no way other than staying home,” a woman said. Since April 2007, the mullahs’ regime has introduced a new suppressive plan nationwide called “boosting public security” with the aim of crushing all resistance by especially women and youths.

NCRI Website – August 23, 2008 The Park Management Organization (PMO) prohibited women riding on bicycles to enter parks in Karaj 40 kilometers west of the capital. PMO hanged signs banning women cyclists from riding their bikes in the city’s parks and outdoor greens. Mullahs’ officials defended the move calling it “immoral” and against “Islamic dress codes.” Riding bikes has become very popular among female college students. In the scorching summer heat of Tehran and other cities the outdoor sport would give women some comfort. Although, women were very cautious about what they wore when riding not to get into trouble with the so- called “boosting public security plan” in effect since April 2007, the new order stop them from biking.

Agenece France Presse – August 24, 2008 An Iranian appeals court has upheld a four-year jail term handed down to a Kurdish women’s rights activist, a press report said on Sunday. “An appeal court in West Azarbaijan confirmed the four-year jail sentence with exile for Zeinab Bayzeydi,” Kargozaran newspaper said, quoting her lawyer Mehdi Hojati. Bayzeydi will have to serve her jail term outside home province of West Azarbaijan, which has a substantial Kurdish population. The 26-year-old had been involved with the “One Million Signature” campaign, an initiative launched in 2006 seeking to change Iranian law regarded as discriminatory to women. Several women have been arrested for their involvement with the campaign in Tehran and Kurdish-populated areas, including Bayzeydi, Ronak Saffarzadeh and Hana Abdi, who was given five years in jail. Earlier this month the French presidency of the European Union condemned the arrest of the three rights activists and called for their unconditional release. Iranian women’s rights campaigners demand equal rights in marriage, child custody and divorce. A married woman in Iran needs her husband’s consent to work and obtain a passport, and the blood money paid for a woman’s life is half that for a man.

NCRI Website August 29, 2008 In a clear insult to Iranian women, Ali Borhan, a prayer leader on Thursday compared Iranian women who refuse to wear the traditional chador to “bare-back donkeys,” in the central city of Mehriz, reported the state-run website Asriran.  “Residents in Mehriz will not tolerate women wearing anything but chador. The way women appear in public is worse than appearing naked,” Borhan said. “We will not accept tapes [music cassettes] distributed in our city and will not tolerate women with improper outfits. They would be better off not wearing anything,” he added.  “Women wearing garments in place of chadors are just like bare-back donkeys. It is something that we will prevent at all costs in the city,” Borhan told a small congregation of worshipers.  Borhan showed his anger at those trying to open movie theaters in the city by saying that he would stand up to “anyone dare building a theater” in Mehriz regardless of its consequences. “Islamic centers should concentrate on Islamic laws and teach how to properly read the Quran’s verses,” Borhan finished his preaches to the worshipers made up of the paramilitary Bassij forces.

NCRI Website – September 1, 2008 Mullahs’ suppressive police- at the airports stopped 128 women passengers from boarding the planes.  In addition, it has given 171,000 oral warnings and took another 6,799 written commitments from the passengers before they began their journey for not violating the mullahs’ dress codes again, the state-run news agency Entekhab reported on Saturday. “Despite seasonal travel pikes, we have been able to enforce the law at the airports nationwide,” Brig. Gen. Mahmoud Botshekan, the airports’ SSF chief was quoted as saying to Entekhab.

Los Angeles Times – September 3, 2008 Women’s advocates scored a rare but significant victory this week after Parliament decided to shelve legislation that they said would have reduced the rights of women in marriage. On Tuesday, however, an Iranian court sentenced four of their leaders to prison. The four women were sentenced to six months in prison for contributing to banned women’s Web sites, Shirin Ebadi, their lawyer, told news outlets. They were identified as Mariam Hossein-khah, Nahid Keshavarz, Jelveh Javaheri and Parvin Ardalan. Another women’s rights activist in western Iran, Zeinab Bayzeydi, was sentenced last week to four years in prison. All five were involved in an international campaign, “One Million Signatures,” to amass petitions demanding women’s rights in the Islamic Republic. Legislation set aside Monday would have allowed husbands to obtain “temporary” marriages or take additional wives without the consent of their first spouse. In addition, divorced women would have to pay taxes on alimony.

NCRI Website – September 4, 2008 In the latest set of new restrictions imposed on Iranian women, a directive recently was putout by local office of the Ministry of Islamic Guidance (MIG), banning women entering government offices wearing red, white or yellow colors. The mullahs’ regime takes advantage of every opportunity to add to women restrictions in Iran. In a similar move, last week women deemed “improperly dressed” were banned from entering the State Security Forces (SSF) – mullahs’ suppressive police – Division of Motor Vehicles’ complex called “Shahrak Azmayesh.” in west Tehran.

Agence France Presse – September 6, 2008 Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on Friday criticised Iran for sentencing women’s rights activist Parvin Ardalan to prison, saying it revealed Tehran’s “deteriorated respect for human rights.” “The jail sentence on September 3 against Iranian human rights defender Parvin Ardalan gives rise to concern,” Bildt said in a statement, adding that “the claim that Ardalan poses a threat to Iran’s national security lacks credibility.”

NCRI Website – September 9, 2008 In past few weeks, the State Security Forces (SSF) – mullahs’ suppressive police – Chastity Units beat up young women in streets in major cities such as Tehran and the southern city of Shiraz. Chastity Units patrolling the neighborhoods stop young women and after a few questions beat them up before the eyes of local residents and shop keepers. In one such incident, a Chastity Unit stopped a woman in Nirou-Havai district East Tehran following a brief squabble; the agents riding in a police van began beating the frightened woman. Youths standing in the street corner intervened to get the woman freed but they were also beaten up and were forced into the police van.