Life for women in Iran beset by fate, culture
By Margaret Coker
COX News Service

May 16, 2007

Growing up female in Iran, Layla did not know happiness. At age 13, her family sold her to a man who forced her into prostitution. At 18, she was arrested and sentenced to death for adultery, while her pimp only paid a fine. In contrast, Shadi Sadr, an Iranian lawyer, was raised with the world at her feet. When small, her parents encouraged her education. As a young adult, she was free to travel and marry a man whom she loved. These women's different fates aren't unusual in Iran, an Islamic republic of 70 million people, where on the same street some women run businesses while others walk anonymously behind their husbands, waiting to speak until given permission.
In Iran, women can drive, vote and own property. They also can be legally independent from male relatives -- a status that is rare in the rest of the region, where the male-dominant tenets of Islam and tribal culture often subjugate women. Yet Iran's legal system also codifies traditions that confer second-class status for women. A woman's testimony in court is worth half that of a man's. A girl is considered an adult under the law at age 9, but the age for boys is 13. The laws also deny women equal rights in divorce, custody and inheritance.
But Layla's story -- a young woman forced into prostitution and condemned to death for it -- is extraordinary in how it turned out.
Her fate changed two years ago, when Ms. Sadr, a crusading lawyer on women's rights in Iran, walked into her cell and saved her. Today, Layla lives in a women's shelter, ready to start a new life at age 22. Her family name is being withheld at the request of the shelter where she lives, for fear that people from her past might seek retribution for telling her story.
Layla's ruddy face carries an easy smile, and the sparkle in her walnut brown eyes offers no hint of the harshness of her past.
"When I was little, I didn't have any dreams for my life," said Layla. "All my life, people hurt me ... until Shadi came. Now, each day is better than the last." A Persian proverb says: If fate doesn't adjust to you, adjust yourself to fate. It has been used to console women -- and resign them -- to the harsh realities of life in Iran. Ms. Sadr and her colleagues want to banish this proverb from everyday life.
Growing up chattel
Layla grew up with her parents and two brothers in a three-bedroom home in Arak, an industrial city about 120 miles south of Tehran. She helped her mother around the house, a task that her father told her made it impossible for her to attend school.
Her father rarely worked, a situation typical for families in the crime-infested, working-class town. To get money, Layla's parents sold her to a man who they knew wanted to prostitute her, Ms. Sadr and Layla's social workers said.
For a father to sell his daughter is legal in Iran if done in the form of a marriage contract. At the age of 13, Layla became the legal wife of her pimp. The cultural and legal traditions of Iran left her no way out. Girls are raised to obey their fathers. Once married, women have to obey their husbands. Judges, no matter the circumstances, usually side with the man in cases related to domestic disputes, said lawyers practicing civil and domestic law. That was Layla's predicament when police arrested her at 18, having survived two pregnancies and the trauma of having to give up both babies. Authorities charged her with prostitution and adultery. While awaiting trial, Layla tried to defend herself against the charges. She told stories of incest at home as a child and physical brutality from her husband. "My whole, life nobody listened to me, no one understood my problems, and no one believed me when I told them the terrible things that had happened. Everybody judged me and thought the sexual abuse was my fault," Layla recalled.
When he heard her accusations, the judge decided she was responsible for seducing her brother. He sentenced Layla to death by stoning — the punishment the Koran commands for both adultery and incest.
A different life
Ms. Sadr, 33, decided to become a lawyer because stories like Layla's were too close for comfort, even for someone with her privileged and independent life. Most university students in Iran are women. Parliament has a small but consistent number of elected female members. Women excel in all fields open to them: the arts, education, business, law. Behind many of these successful women are tales of female relatives whose yearnings were quashed by tradition or religion. For Ms. Sadr, that person was her grandmother, one of the first girls in Iran allowed to attend school in the 1930s, thanks to a decree by the monarch and reformer Reza Shah Pahlavi, who ruled Iran until his abdication in 1941. His son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ruled Iran until he was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic revolution. Ms. Sadr's grandmother completed sixth grade and dreamed of becoming a teacher or midwife. But Ms. Sadr said her great-grandfather forced her grandmother at age 13 to marry someone more than three times her age, consigning her to a life as a housewife. Ms. Sadr didn't want her life to turn out like that, and doesn't want such a fate for her daughter Darya, 7. "My grandmother wasn't allowed the life she wanted. I was lucky. I achieved everything, but the struggle was still hard. I didn't want the dearest person in my life to have the same troubles," said Ms. Sadr, a petite woman with spiky, dark hair and a strong voice. Ms. Sadr spent years as a muckraking journalist before going to law school — a career switch prompted when the government shut down the reformist newspapers where she published unflattering stories about the treatment of women within the Islamic system. For the past three years, she has operated a pro-bono legal service helping dozens of women. She has secured the release of eight women from death row after their adultery convictions were overturned. Her cause has not been easy. Ms. Sadr has spent time in prison, including a recent three-week stint for organizing women's rights demonstrations in Tehran. Practicing law, the odds are against her, too.
Soon after the 1979 revolution, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a prohibition against female judges. Ayatollah Khomeini said that a woman's brain was not developed enough for such decision-making. Female justices — including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi — lost their positions. The male clerics who now run the judiciary interpret laws more harshly against women, said Ms. Sadr and other human rights lawyers. "It's a monopoly of power," she explained. "They have a mentality that is very traditional, and a bias against nontraditional women. It's a constant struggle for justice."
Saving Layla
In 2004, a friend told Ms. Sadr about Layla's case. She found the young woman languishing in prison, alone in her misery and catatonic. Ms. Sadr presented an appellate defense based on the Koranic injunctions of mercy and charity. The court saw merit in the argument because of Layla's deteriorating mental state. Ms. Sadr persuaded the judge to sever the legal relationship between Layla and her family and make her Layla's custodian.In 2005, when Layla was freed, Ms. Sadr brought her to Tehran and enlisted help from a network of women working to rehabilitate thousands of women and girls abused by Iran's system. They include homeless girls, victims of rape, divorcees and prostitutes. In the eyes of traditional Iranian society, they all have one thing in common: the presumption that all have lost their virginity, and therefore, their worth. "Girls and women like that ... are completely written off by the government and by most of society. We don't believe that is true," said Marjaneh Halati, a trained psychotherapist who founded Omid e Mehr, the women's shelter in downtown Tehran where Layla now lives.
The government also runs shelters for abused women that provide them with beds and meals. But Omid e Mehr is a rarity in Iran because it provides a way for girls to escape the shackles of their past and not be defined by it. The center provides individual and group therapy, foster care, vocational education and job placement. Women range in age from 20 to 35 and spend two or three years in the program.
Social workers are teaching Layla to read and do math. She gets to draw and paint with her friends. She goes on field trips to the mountains outside Tehran, and to see a movie once a week. Most of all, she feels safe to dream about the future she wants — about finding love and starting a real family. "It's difficult to be a girl in Iran. You survive by learning to tolerate what life brings you. That was what my life was like in the past," said Layla. "Now I dream about making myself happy, about having the whole world brought to me on a silver platter."
 

Tehran Cracks Down on Feminist Movement
Spiegel

May 17, 2007

The burgeoning feminist movement in Iran is coming under increased pressure from Ahmadinejad's hardline regime. Activists who are campaigning to improve women's rights are being harassed, arrested and imprisoned for violating "national security."  The growing movement has largely taken place in the shadow of a global diplomatic crisis. For months, as the world focuses its attention on Iran's nuclear intentions, Iranian feminists have been bravely fighting the country's entrenched patriarchy. But even as the world has taken little notice of the activists, Iranian authorities have. Accusing the women of being a threat to national security and of using foreign funds to stir up dissent in Iran, Tehran, in recent months has been doing what it can to crush the home-grown feminist movement.
The most recent move in the ongoing crackdown was the arrest of prominent activist Zeinab Peyghambarzadeh earlier this month. The 21-year-old was arrested after she had gone to court to answer questions about her participation in a rally in March. The crackdown, however, has been gaining steam for months. Over the past 10 months the Iranian security forces have "become more and more aggressive even as women's actions have become more peaceful and more tame," one activist, Jila Baniyaghoub, told Associated Press. "By tightening the noose on us, they are warning us that they will not tolerate even the mildest criticism," she said.
In recent months Peyghambarzadeh and her fellow activists have been organizing a series of demonstrations across the country to rally against patriarchal laws and structures in Iran, including polygamy, unfair inheritance laws, and a lack of custody rights in divorce settlements. They have likewise been going out to talk with Iranian women in the streets, universities, schools and factories. They have also been active on the Internet, setting up a number of Web sites dedicated to women's issues...According to Ebadi the popular support for the women's movement has unsettled the regime in Tehran. They see the feminists as calling into question the Iranian constitution, which is based on Shariah law and effectively treats women as second-class citizens...On March 4, over 30 women, including Peyghambarzadeh, were arrested after they attended a protest rally in support of a number of arrested activists. Police loaded the 31 women into a bus and drove them to Tehran's Evin prison where they were blindfolded, forced to wear chadors and interrogated, before being released over the following weeks.
According to Reporters Without Borders, four other women's rights activists were given prison sentences in March for using the Internet to demand better conditions for women in the country. The "cyber-feminists" had been trying to collect a million signatures to call for a change to discriminatory laws. The women were found guilty of "violating national security," and given sentences ranging from six months to a year.
"Despite the constant harassment of its members, the Iranian feminist movement is growing and is alarming the government," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. "The Internet is now a battle-ground between these women, who are just demanding the same rights as men, and a regime that remains as rigid as ever."...The Iranian police are also ramping up their inspections of women to ensure they are adhering to the Islamic dress code. The annual spring offensive to make sure women are covering up enough has been particularly strict this year. And the government in Tehran is now drafting a law to limit female students to half the places in college, instead of the 65 percent they currently occupy.

Bloody clashes between women and the police in Iran

By NCRI Website

May 21, 2007

A number of clashes have been reported in Tehran between regimes’ special police forces and young women following enactment of the new chastity plan by the Majlis (mullahs' parliament) and the campaign against women’s mal-veiling, reported the Iranian Women Society in Tehran.  The Society released a photo of a young women who had been badly injured by the regime's security forces.
In one incident, in '7-tir Square' on Sunday, May 20, the security forces tried to arrest some women when they met resistance from the women and the bystanders, eyewitnesses reported. The report indicates that some men at the scene tried to help the women escape the scene by engaging the security forces.
A shop owner at the scene said: “The [regime] agents stopped three women between the ages of 25 to 30 for their nonconformity to the veiling measures. But their language was too rough making the women to react.”
“When one of the agents was trying to pull one of the girls into a police vehicle, she resisted. Then one other agent kicked the girl in her knee. That sparked furious reaction from the crowed watching the situation,” continued the shop owner.
The three women were finally pulled out of the guards' hands by the people and driven off from the scene by a passing car.
In another incident, regime's agents arrested a girl for mal-veiling.
“She was pulled into the police car by the security agents and was taken away,” Says a taxi driver, stating, “Her cries for help angered the bystanders.”
Another eyewitness reports that in an argument between the people and the police, a mother and her daughter were beaten and their faces were covered with blood. They took their headscarf off in protest. It is said that they were using their mobiles to film agents attacking a women.

Iraqi women demand an end to the Mullah’s regime activities in Iraq

NCRI Website

June 7, 2007

In a gathering on June 3rd, women in Salahedin province in Iraq called for action against Iranian regime’s terrorism in Iraq.
Ms. Soheila Farhani director of a women’s civil organization in Salahedin province described details of recent clerical regime’s crimes in Iraq. She said: we are going through tough times and unfortunately the Iranian regime has been left free to do whatever they desire.
One thing is clear to everyone now and that is the mullah’s regime is the main enemy and foremost threat to Iraqi people. Therefore we demand cutting the hands of Iranian regime in Iraq and we will force this anti-human regime out of Iraq.
Ms. Manal Tarad, a student in salahedin province talked about Islamic fundamentalism exported by the mullah’s regime to Iraq and crimes that predominantly affect Iraqi women. She said: Iraqi Women’s Rights organization report that every day 90 to 100 Iraqi women become widowers as a result of sectarian violence. Also statistics show that there are 4 million orphan children in Iraq all taken care of by single mothers. The women who have been forced to emigrate inside Iraq are 8% of Iraqi women population.
Therefore the solution for Iraqi women’s problem is the same as the solution for Iraqi society which is ousting of the Iranian regime.
The militias should be disbanded. We also say that People’s Mojahedin are the only democratic alternative to the Iranian regime, the only impediment to their meddling in Iraq and the only real threat for their overthrow and that is why the regime is conspiring against them with all their power and proxies in Iraq.
We, the people of Iraq and especially women of Iraq condemn all the plots of the regime and its proxies. We, the Iraqi people consider People’s Mojahedin a part of our family and our beloved guests.
The next speaker was a women’s activist, Ms. Assieh Ahmad. She said: All the assassinations and murderous acts in Iraq today are exported by Iranian regime. They want to occupy Iraq.
We, the Iraqi women should stand up to this regime. This regime has been destroying Iraq in the past 4 years. We consider People’s Mojahedin who have resided in Iraq for the past 20 years as our sisters and brothers. They have never interfered in Iraqi affairs. We announce that their presence is the only impediment to Iranian regime in Iraq. We declare our solidarity with 1000 Mojahed women in Ashraf.
The concluding resolution of the gathering was read by Ms. Ebtesam Fars. Part of the resolution reads:
“We, the Iraqi women who have come together in Salahedin gathering strongly condemn any interference by Iranian regime and its women-suppressing proxies in Iraq and will not let them decide our destiny.
We demand human, social and political rights for Iraqi women and will not be silenced. Our rights will only be observed when the Iranian regime is forced out of Iraq. All the militias that act as the occupying wing of this regime must disband. We declare our full solidarity with 1000 Mojahed women in Ashraf.

Women's Rally for Equal Rights in Iran
By Jila Kazerounian
American Chronicle

June 9, 2007
June 12 marks the one year anniversary of Iranian women's rally against the gender apartheid regime ruling their country. Thousands of women took to the streets of Tehran in a protest organized by several women's groups to oppose the suppression and inequality under the theocratic rulers. They chanted: "women are human, but we don't have any rights", "our demand: freedom and equal rights", and "regime of misogyny must end".
State Security forces attacked the demonstrators, beating, injuring and arresting tens of them. This ordeal was the beginning of another round of repression of women by Ahmadinejad and his hardliner cronies. Recently Tehran 's regime has launched a severe crackdown of women "to promote virtue and combat vice". Women who do not observe full Islamic dress code are beaten and detained in the streets charged with mal-veiling. The scenes of these attacks by security forces are horrifying.
Amid widespread uprisings by university students, teachers and workers, the Islamic fundamentalist regime has once again started the campaign against women to send a message to the rest of the population and to assert its control. In the past 3 decades of clerical rule in Iran , women have proven that they will not submit to these dinosaurs. The system of gender apartheid will be brought down by the same people who are taking the brunt of their brutality: women. The dictators of Tehran have executed tens of thousands of them. They have raped virgin girl prisoners so that according to their twisted ideology they would not end up in heaven. They have tortured and maimed women political prisoners. But they have not been able to silence Iranian women.
The Resistance is growing. Women are leading the struggle for democracy and freedom in Iran . And there is a woman at the forefront of the resistance movement. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) is the woman most feared by the Mullahs in Iran . She is leading the most organized opposition against the regime. As Mrs. Rajavi stated on the occasion of International Women's Day in Paris : "Because they have been historically exploited and suppressed, women possess an enormous motivation and high perseverance in the struggle in order to make up for their lag. In the confrontation with the mullahs, we realized that women resemble a compressed spring that when released from the shackles of discrimination and faced with responsibility, they take giant leaps forward."
Tehran 's Mullahs better watch out: Women of Iran have started the giant leaps forward .