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Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)

October 20, 2010

Blogger “The Writings from the Heart of a Citizen Journalist” writes about a young boy he saw in central Tehran who was forced to work to help his family make ends meet:

Today I went to the Revolution Square to buy books, and there I saw a heartrending scene. An 8- or 9-year-old boy was making some money with a scale he had while at the same time doing his homework. He was also selling a few toys.

I asked the boy what his father was doing. He said he sells vegetables at Emamzadeh Hassan [a bazaar in southern Tehran], and he said he’s forced to work to help with the expenses. I gave him a 1,000-tuman [about $10] bill to try to make him happy and also make a contribution even though small.

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One women's rights activist says the new official figures suggest that efforts by Iran "to eliminate women from universities" have been successful.

Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)

October 20, 2010

The head of Iran’s Research and Planning Organization of Higher Studies has said that the number of male and female students in the Islamic republic is now equal.

Massoud Hadian Dehkordi has said that there are currently 3,790,859 students in the country, of which he said about 50.5 percent are men and about 49.5 percent women.

Previously it had been reported, based on official figures, that women made up 60-65 percent of university entrants.

Some Iranian officials had expressed worry over the rising numbers of women at universities, and said that it represented a threat to traditional values and that it would limit women’s marriage opportunities.

In 2008, the Research Center of the Iranian parliament expressed concern over the trend, which it described as “alarming” and called on the government to stop it.

The center said that over the last two decades there’d been a 23 percent increase in the number of girls taking university entrance exams, with the number of girls who passed the tests nearly doubling — to 65 percent — over the same period.

The government had proposed measures to stop the trend, including through the implementation of quotas for enrollment in some fields including medicine, where women were reportedly outnumbering men.

Women’s rights activist Shadi Sadr says the new official figure of female students seems to suggest that efforts by Iran “to eliminate women from universities” have been successful.

“The most important policy is the policy of gender quota that has been implemented in the last five years in some fields, including medicine and engineering,” Sadr told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.

“A limit is being imposed on the number of women who want to study in fields that are considered manly or the government believes that it is more [important] for men to study these courses than women.”

Another policy that has been promoted, Sadr said, is pushing women to study at universities in their hometowns in provinces and smaller cities.

Officials have said in the past that the measures were not discriminating against women .

But women’s rights activists have long protested against the moves, which they believe is a continuation of state repression of women and efforts aimed at keeping them at home.

– Golnaz Esfandiari

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Iranian women's cycling team

Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)

October 20, 2010

The new police chief of the Iranian city of Esfahan says it is a crime for women to cycle or roller-skate in public, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reports.

The two were among a range of women’s activities deemed criminal by Hassan Karami in an announcement on October 18.

Further criminal activities include singing near Esfahan’s famous Khajoo Bridge and playing volleyball in public. Karami also said that it is a crime for either sex to play cards in public parks.

Karami said police will “severely prosecute” offenders. He added that the number of police stations and patrols in Esfahan should be increased in order to combat crime in the city.

Tehran-based lawyer Ahmad Bashiri told Radio Farda on October 19 that for an act to be considered a crime, there must be a defined punishment under the law, so that the crime can be prosecuted.

“Singing is not in itself a crime,” Bashiri said. “But if it inconveniences the public, or if the song contains obscene words, then it can be considered a crime.”

By contrast, playing cards or gambling in public is considered a crime under Iranian law, Bashiri added.

Whether women should be permitted to ride bicycles has been a controversial issue in Iran for a long time. One month ago, Tehran Friday Prayers leader Ahmad Khatami said he had received “worrying news” about women riding bicycles on the streets of Tehran. Following his statement, Tehran police began confronting women cyclists.

Bashiri said that when someone says it is a crime for a woman to ride a bicycle, he should explain the legal basis for that statement. The police have no right to make arbitrary decisions based on their own interpretation of the law, Bashiri claimed.

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Iranian women and a young girl at a conservative meeting (file photo)

Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)

September 20, 2010

Blogger kindkill3r contemplates the way women are portrayed on Iranian state television under hard-liner control. Women’s rights activists have long criticized state television for presenting an unrealistic and clichéd image of Iranian women and promoting a strictly traditional role for women. Women on Iran’s state programs are often highly pious, humble, they don’t smoke, they never laugh out loud, they fully observe the obligatory hijab dress code, they don’t wear make up or tight or revealing dresses, and they are obedient and quick to listen to their husbands.

Kindkill3r provides some examples of “a decent woman” as seen on the state television:

A woman who chews gum is either a trafficker or a prostitute.

A decent woman is a woman who forgives her husband who has married a second wife by the end of the film.

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Source: Radio Zamaneh

August 22, 2010

Gathering of Iranian women on August 19

Iranian opposition leader, Zahra Rahnavard urged Iran’s Islamic Parliament to scrap the recent controversial family protection law from its agenda.

Kaleme website reports that Rahnavard has called on the parliament to leave the evaluation of this bill of law to a “group of expert and progressive men and women.”

Last week, Iranian media reported that the family protection bill of law, after three years of delay, will be put in the parliament’s agenda.

Opponents of this legislation thus organized gatherings and issued articles to protest against it.

This bill proposes to allow men to commit polygamy without proof of financial means or the first wife’s consent. It also proposes to tax the one-time lump sum of alimony paid to women upon divorce.

Zahra Rahnavard insists that the Quran’s references to polygamy belong to a different time and historical situation and are being misinterpreted in this bill.

Rahnavard goes on to add that “scrapping this bill from the parliament’s agenda is not a women’s issue but rather a national demand aiming at the prosperity of the Iranian nation and the permanence of Iranian families.”

A group of women from different organizations and groups gathered on Thursday and Saturday to critique the controversial family protection bill and devise a plan of action to stop it from becoming law.

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August 13, 2010

Deutsche Übersetzung auf Julias Blog lesen

Report Originally Published in Persian by Rooz Online | August 12, 2010

Translation SIAVOSH JALILI for Persian2English

According to Javid Kian, the lawyer for 25 year old Maryam Ghorbanzadeh, in a letter to Judiciary intelligence and security, judicial officials (most notably Saeed Mortazavi) decided that the case of Maryam Ghorbanzadeh needs to be resolved so they could deal with Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s case.

Javid Kian tells Rooz that “all the attention is focused on the Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani case, and in the midst of it all, the life of Ms. Ghorbanzadeh is at risk.  In the wake of protests against Ms. Ashtiani’s stoning sentence, [authorities] changed the stoning sentence for Ms. Ghorbanzadeh to death by hanging. The ruling was sent to the department that processes death sentences.  She can be executed any moment now.”

Javid Kian explains that Ms. Ghorbanzadeh’s case is similar to Sakineh’s. Ghorbanzadeh was facing death by stoning, but after international protests against Ashtiani’s case, Mr. Nobakht, the Tabriz Vice-Attorney General, sent the case to branch 12 of the Provincial Criminal Court under the pretext that the case may cause too much noise and deface the image of Islam. The branch in question changed the stoning sentence to death by hanging.

Javid Kian added, “All I can do is demand for the case to be reopened and ask for a retrial, and I have done both. But, it is unclear whether they will accept my request or not. Unfortunately, the case is currently in branch 7 which processes death sentences.”  Kian explained how and why his client was arrested: “Ms. Ghorbanzadeh’s husband was extremely paranoid to the point that he would make Ms. Ghorbanzadeh take sleeping pills every day before he left home, and he would lock her up in the house while he was out. He had been divorced twice by his ex-wives for this disorder. All the facts are available in the case. Ms. Ghorbanzadeh was not able to leave home for months until finally she began a relationship with a man who eventually became her husband’s killer. I have to point out that she had no role in the murder and the murder had nothing to do with her. The murderer is free on bail.  After the murder, Ms. Ghorbanzadeh entered a temporary marriage (siqah) with the new man. The certificate of the temporary marriage is also available. However, the family of the victim, who was after the inheritance without giving anything to Ms. Ghorbanzadeh, arranged for her [temporary] husband to be arrested. A house search uncovered a sex tape of Ms. Ghorbanzadeh and her temporary husband. The film is used as evidence by the judge in branch 12 to issue a stoning sentence. Our argument that the defendant and the man are officially married was not taken into account. The judge claims the film’s content was recorded when Ms. Ghorbanzadeh was married to her [first] husband, and that the date on the film indicates that it was recorded before [he was murdered].”

Abortion at the end of the second trimester

Javid Kian states that Ms. Ghorbanzadeh was pregnant when she was arrested: “When Maryam was six months pregnant, they forced her to have an abortion so they can execute her, since they are not allowed to execute a pregnant woman. We protested vehemently against this act, and argued that the fetus is considered a person at the end of the first trimester. We said that destroying the fetus is considered murder, but they did not pay any attention to our protest. The controversy around Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s case has resulted in Maryam’s case to speed up. Maryam has to pay the price now.”

Kian describes the emotional and psychological state of her client as very bad. He said, “Unfortunately, Maryam’s emotional state is not good at all, and after the abortion, it has worsened. Now that she is at risk of execution, you can only imagine what she is going through.”

TAKE ACTION: It is Time to Remove the Islamic Republic from the UN Commission on the Status of Women (incl. sample letters and addresses)

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August 14, 2010

Deutsche Übersetzung auf Julias Blog lesen

Originally Published in Persian by ROOZ ONLINE | August 12, 2010

Translation SIAVOSH JALILI for Persian2English

In an interview with Rooz Online, Javid Kian, the lawyer for the four women who received stoning sentences, has asked international organizations to act in order to save the lives of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, Maryam Ghorbanzadeh, Kobra Babaei, and Azar Bagheri.

Meanwhile, on the Wednesday night episode of the Iran state television program 20/30, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani [falsely] confessed to adultery and the murder of her husband. She also made [false] confessions against herself and her lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei.

Javid Kian is the lawyer who along with Mohammad Mostafaei represents the Ashtiani case. In an interview with Rooz, Kian talked of the pressures put on Sakineh’s children and said that the televised confession came only after Sakineh was severely beaten and physically assaulted.

Mohammad Mostafaei, referring to the confession,  said that the Judiciary system should know that it cannot justify its behaviour and conduct through violence, force, extracting false confessions, and targeting and ruining the character and reputation of others.

The Beating of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was shown on television confessing against herself and her lawyer while her case and her fate is still in a cloud of obscurity in the wake of the halt of her stoning sentence. After the confessions of his client was aired, Javid Kian told Rooz, “They took Ms. Ashtiani to room 37 of Tabriz prison and had her confess against herself. However, these confessions were not extracted under normal circumstances. Based on the information I have, Ms. Ashtiani was beaten severely and was forced to take part in the interview.  They also filmed family members of Ms. Ashtiani making statements against her.”

He added, “They approached Ms. Ashtiani’s extremely religious family members and filmed them stating that Sakineh committed adultery and must be punished. Unfortunately, Ms. Ashtiani’s family members have put pressure on her children and said to them, ‘Your mother has ruined the reputation of our family and has to be executed and stoned.’  There is a lot of psychological pressure on the children.”

Javid Kian also explains that he was informed through his other clients [detained] in the women’s ward of Tabriz prison that Sakineh was forced to confess in a televised interview under duress and [after receiving] extreme beatings.

Kian said the following on the latest developments in the Ashtiani case: “Our last action was to demand a re-opening and retrial of the case. They were supposed to reply in 20 days, but then the whole situation with my dear colleague Mr. Mostafaei occurred. After that, the case of Ms. Ashtiani was suspended by the Judiciary’ s Intelligence and Security. After Mr. Hosseyni Nobakhti, the executive vice-director of the Tabriz Execution of Sentences office, wrote to Mr. Ezhey, Iran’s General Attorney, Mr. Ezhei passed the case to his principle assistant Saeed Mortazavi.  In turn, Mortazavi sent the case to the Judiciary’s Intelligence and Security. He added a note under the letter that the case of Ms. Ghorbanzadeh will be resolved before the case of Ms. Ashtiani.  However, these two cases have no connection to one another.  This indicates that the life of Maryam Ghorbanzadeh is in danger and they want to execute her as quickly as possible while global attention is focused on Sakineh’s case.”

Mohammad Mostafaei’s Reaction to the Televised Confession

Mohammad Mostafaei told Rooz, “Everyone knows that when the life of a person is in danger, or when (s)he faces death or a stoning sentence, (s)he would have no choice but to sit behind any camera and accept the demands of those who have the control of his/her life. (S)he would say whatever they want to be said. I am certain that this was the case in Sakineh’s confessions. I have to say, however, that the question of murder in Sakineh’s case does not hold at all because the murder was one case and the stoning was another case [in court]. What is important is that when the family of the victim consent to forgive and spare the life the defendant, execution and Qesas (eye-for-an-eye execution) are out of the question, and this has nothing to do with the type and form of the murder. So, while the question of murder has been resolved, it is highlighted on television to justify the [illegal] actions. Why wasn’t the stoning sentence discussed [on television]? Why didn’t they announce that Sakineh requested a pardon three times, but each time it was turned down? Why didn’t they mention the fact that two out of the five judges voted not-guilty [to her sentence] due to a lack of evidence in the adultery charge?”

Mostafaei added, “We argued that a human being is in danger of being stoned and there was no [option] of death [by hanging]. The head of the Tabriz Judiciary, after international attention was gained on the case, said in an interview that the sentence was death by hanging. However, this is not true.  Why didn’t they interview her lawyer on television? They claim that I have never met Sakineh, even though I am her lawyer. I have talked to her on the phone many times and I have met her [in person] many times. I am officially representing her, and this is mentioned in the case too. I don’t know what they are trying to prove.  If the Judiciary had accepted the demand for pardon, there would not have been so much protest and tumult over the case. The government and judiciary officials should know that they cannot achieve anything by resorting to violence, force, deception, and lies. I do not care what Israel or the USA does or says. My concern is to save the life of a human being from death. In the midst of all this, some people living outside Iran take political advantage of the situation, while others are working in a completely humane and sincere way. I do not deal with those who are taking advantage. I feel sorry for my country. I wish instead of making false documentaries, the officials would choose the correct approaches that would serve the best interests of the country, Islam, and the regime.”

Life of Maryam Ghorbanzadeh in Danger, Forced Abortion at Six Months

Azar Bagheri, Another Victim

Azar Bagheri is another of Mr. Kian’s clients who has been in jail since she was 14 years old after her husband filed a complaint against her.  Mr. Kian said, “Ms. Bagheri has been in jail for ten years, since she was 14. We followed all the legal processes and they issued and reinstated the death by stoning sentence six times. But, just recently, her sentence was changed to lashes. The case is open and has gone to the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court does not overturn the lashing sentence, she is saved from stoning. If the court nullifies it, the stoning sentence may be carried out. However, the risk is that since she will receive 100 lashes on her back while naked, she risks damage to her spinal cord, like in most [lashing] cases.”

Mr. Kian explains that Ms. Bagheri’s husband owed someone money and he invited that person to his home. Then, the husband beat up Azar Bagheri and the other person. He called the police and claimed that they, Ms. Bagheri and the man, were engaged in a sexual relationship and he had witnessed it. He had devised a dirty plan to get rid of his creditor. Now, the sentence has been changed to lashing because we were finally able to prove that the person was in fact a creditor, the entire case was a conspiracy, and the relationship [between Ms. Bagheri and the creditor] was false.”

Stoning Sentence for Kobra Babaei Sent to Processing Office

Kobra Babaei is Javid Kian’s other client whose husband Rahim Mohammadi was executed in Tabriz on the charge of Sodomy. She is at risk of being stoned to death. According to her lawyer, the sentence was sent to branch 7 of the office that processes execution sentences. Rahim Mohammadi never committed sodomy; he had only staged a show to extort someone. His plan never worked and he was arrested. However, they executed him on the charge of sodomy.  After the double injustice done to Ms. Babaei, her [current] mental and psychological condition is in a horrific state. She is suffering from severe depression and uses dangerous medications. Our request for a retrial was turned down. She can be stoned any day now.”

Javid Kian asks international organizations to take action to save the lives of these four women. He says that legally his hands are tied, especially with respect to cases that are sent to the office that processes execution sentences, and therefore, he can’t do anything.

TAKE ACTION: It is Time to Remove the Islamic Republic from the UN Commission on the Status of Women (incl. sample letters and addresses)

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Iranian woman holds a sign that reads: Temporary marriage (Seeqeh) is the sweetest delight that is decreed to a Muslim woman. -- Fatemeh Zahra

August 9, 2010

Planet Iran/Iran Press News

Click here for Persian text

Planet Iran’s report on temporary marriages (Seeqeh) in Iran, was met with many and varied reactions, some people who did not find it so strange and others who refused to believe it. In today’s Iran however, truth is often stranger than fiction.

So as a follow-up, we have compiled and translated the below article published last week in one of the Iranian regime’s own media outlets. MEHR news agency reports:

Massoumeh Pareesh, a researcher in the area of Women’s Affairs who provides documentation for her research on the issue of temporary marriages, said: “The average period for temporary marriages ranges anywhere between one hour and five months and financial issues is what drives women to submit to such conjugality. This study has been conducted in a qualitative fashion and is based on in-depth interviews with women who are either in a temporary marriages or have been in one; the minimum period of the contract has been between one hour and 99 years.”

Pareesh adds: “Most of these women either were experienced housewives or had worked in service careers such as nursing. Usually women who submitted to temporary marriages had experienced some kind of family trauma or had gone through serious divorce and domestic problems.”

Pareesh believes that most of these women faced financial hardship following either a divorce that left them with no support or lost a husband who was the bread winner of the household. She maintains: “Due to a lack of governmental or real social support for these women, and especially those with children, these women have no choice but to marry. Many of these women also know that the men with whom they enter into a temporary marriage does not have adequate financial means but they took what little they received since they had no choice. The women I interviewed believe that men who temporarily marry, do this without their first wives’ knowledge and for different reasons such as the frigidity of their wives. Based on the obtained results, men are not willing to enter into long-term marriages with the women they marry temporarily. But the question remains, what are these women to do after the temporary marriage terminates, as Sharia law dictates that a woman is not permitted to remarry for a period of anywhere between 45 days to two months. Therefore now, the women are forced to marry one man after another which has turned this into a career and a form of commerce. The issue is if this is compatible with Sharia law.”

“Many women said that during their first few marriages, they felt affection for their temporary husbands but they have learned that any emotional attachment is disadvantageous and long-term marriages are often conducive to forming sentimental bonds.”

Prior to the study Pareesh believed that religious women were more likely to submit to temporary marriages but she clarifies: “The results show that neither religious not non-religious women cite their reasons for temporary marriage as prompted by their beliefs.”

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EXCLUSIVE: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani accuses authorities in Tehran of lying about charges in attempt to execute her in secret

By Saeed Kamali Dehghan

Source: Guardian

August 6, 2010

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, speaking through an intermediary, accused Tehran of trying to ‘confuse the media’ in order to kill her in secret. Photograph: AP

n an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the woman whose sentence of death by stoning triggered an international outcry has accused the Iranian authorities of lying about the charges against her to pave the way to execute her in secret.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery but it was commuted to hanging after an international outcry. Her initial sentence was for “having an illicit relationship outside marriage” but Iranian officials have claimed that she was also found guilty of murdering her husband and should still face death by stoning.

In the interview, which took place through an intermediary who cannot be named for security reasons, she said: “They’re lying. They are embarrassed by the international attention on my case and they are desperately trying to distract attention and confuse the media so that they can kill me in secret.”

Yesterday, Mossadegh Kahnemoui, a senior Iranian judicial official, told the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: “This lady, in addition to double adultery, is also found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband.”

Mohammadi Ashtiani said: “I was found guilty of adultery and was acquitted of murder, but the man who actually killed my husband was identified and imprisoned but he is not sentenced to death.”

The accused, who has not been named, is not facing execution because Mohammadi Ashtiani’s son pardoned him, but she was sentenced to death after a local prosecutor in Tabriz accused her of adultery.

“The answer is quite simple, it’s because I’m a woman, it’s because they think they can do anything to women in this country. It’s because for them adultery is worse than murder – but not all kinds of adultery: an adulterous man might not even be imprisoned but an adulterous women is the end of the world for them. It’s because I’m in a country where its women do not have the right to divorce their husbands and are deprived of their basic rights.”

Mohammadi Ashtiani also revealed that at the moment the sentence was passed she did not understand the Arabic word used as the legal term for stoning.

“When the judge handed down my sentence, I even didn’t realise I’m supposed to be stoned to death because I didn’t know what ‘rajam’ means. They asked me to sign my sentence which I did, then I went back to the prison and my cellmates told me that I was going to be stoned to death and I instantly fainted.”

Mohammadi Ashtiani fears that the exile of her original lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, has made her more vulnerable. “They wanted to get rid of my lawyer so that they can easily accuse me of whatever they want without having him to speak out. If it was not for his attempts, I would have been stoned to death by now.”

Mostafaei volunteered to represent her for free and succeeded in bringing her case to world attention but fled to Turkey when Iranian authorities issued an arrest warrant for him. His wife is being held without charge in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

Mostafaei, who was arrested on immigration charges in Istanbul, was released today and is on his way to Norway.

Describing life inside Tabriz prison, Mohammadi Ashtiani said she has been subject to constant mistreatment by prison guards. “Their words, the way they see me – an adulterous woman who should be stoned to death – is just like being stoned to death every day.”

She thanked campaigners for highlighting her case and said international pressure was her only hope for release. “For all these years, they [the officials] have tried to put something in my mind, to convince me that I’m an adulterous woman, an irresponsible mother, a criminal but with the international support, once again I’m finding myself, my innocent self.”

She pleaded: “Don’t let them stone me in front of my son.”

Twelve women and three men have also been sentenced to death by stoning in Iran.

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Source: The Green Voice of Freedom (GVF)

August 2, 2010

Civil activist Hengameh Solouki has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison. She was arrested on 27 December during the Ashura protests which were quickly turned violent by Iran’s security forces.

According to the RAHANA news agency, after imprisonment in ward 209 of Evin prison, the civil activist was temporarily released on bail before the start of the Iranian New Year in March 2010.

The charges against her include “colluding and assembly” (24 months in prison) as well as “propagating against the establishment” (six months in prison). “Sending widespread text message and calling for assembly” were cited as one of the pieces of evidence in handing down her sentence. This is despite the fact that article 27 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic guarantees the freedom of assembly, provided that arms are not carried and that gatherings are not detrimental to the principles of Islam.

On 27 December 2009, many Iranians turned out to participate in peaceful anti-government protests which were soon crushed violently by the police, Basij and plain-clothed militia. Scores of people were killed, inured or arrested following the demonstrations. Many of those arrested faced charges as Moharebeh (warring against God), a crime punishable by death.