IRAN'S WAR ON WOMEN

As we celebrate International Women's Day please help us inform the world of the plight of Iranian women who are leading their people in a valiant struggle for liberty and dignity.

STOP IRAN NOW - March 8. 2023

Iran's War on Women is outlined in the following article published by our wonderful friends at United Against a Nuclear Iran followed by an update on the dire situation of Iranian Women published by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) :

Iran’s War on Women - UNITED AGAINST A NUCLEAR IRAN

Table of Contents Head Covering: Violently Enforced by the Regime ....................................................................................... 3 Arrest and Death of Mahsa Amini and Resulting Protests ....................................................................... 4 Domestic Violence, “Honor Killings,” and Rape............................................................................................5 Domestic Violence and Honor Killings ...................................................................................................... 5 Rape .......................................................................................................................................................... 6 Sexual Exploitation of Girls ........................................................................................................................... 7 Disproportionate Judicial Punishment.......................................................................................................... 7 Crackdown on Women’s Rights Activists...................................................................................................... 8 Nasrin Sotoudeh ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Masih Alinejad .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Compulsory Gender Segregation .................................................................................................................. 9

Denial of Political, Economic, and Cultural Opportunities............................................................................ 9 Political Opportunities .............................................................................................................................. 9 Economic Opportunities ......................................................................................................................... 10 Cultural Opportunities ............................................................................................................................ 10

Unequal Treatment in Family and Inheritance Law....................................................................................10

The Iranian regime systematically discriminates against women, treating them as second-class citizens. Tehran enables and engages in violence against women and sexual exploitation of girls; harasses, jails, fines, flogs women—and now reportedly has killed one—for ‘crimes’ like appearing in public without covering their hair and bodies; cracks down on activists for women’s rights; forcibly segregates women from men; disproportionately punishes women in the judicial system; denies women political and economic opportunities; and favors men over women in family and inheritance law.

Head Covering: Violently Enforced by the Regime

Since shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iranian regime has mandated that women and girls above the age of nine wear a hijab (Islamic head-covering) in public. The government crushed protests against the then-new requirement.

Iran’s Islamic Penal Code states: “Women, who appear in public places and roads without wearing an Islamic hijab, shall be sentenced to ten days to two months’ imprisonment or a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred [thousand] Rials,” (Article 638). The article also authorizes a sentence of “two months in prison or up to 74 lashes” for “[anyone] who openly commits a harām (sinful) act, in addition to the punishment provided for the act.” (The severe devaluation of the Rial has reduced the impact of the fine, which translated to about $1.20–12 as of October 3, 2022).

Women who fail to wear headscarves and other attire covering their bodies in public may be harassed by the “Morality Police” (MP), detained, fined, and/or flogged. Many Iranians have expressed opposition to mandatory hijab, including through the “White Wednesdays” campaign (begun in 2017), in which Iranians wear white headscarves or other clothing on Wednesdays in protest.

In December 2017, Tehran’s police chief, Gen. Hossein Rahimi, announced that officers would cease arresting and charging women for dress code violations. However, the authorities reversed their policy after the nationwide protests against the regime in late December and early January. During the demonstrations, Iranian women publicly removed their headscarves and waved them in the air. Videos of these acts of defiance by women dubbed “The Girls of Revolution Street” went viral worldwide.

In response, Gen. Rahimi announced a zero-tolerance policy against the protestors, warning that “Although the sentence for not wearing a hijab [head-covering] is two months in prison, anyone encouraging others to take off their hijab will be jailed for 10 years.” The latter punishment would be applied by trying protesters for the crimes of “inciting corruption and prostitution” under article 639 of the Islamic Penal Code. 3

President Ebrahim Raisi has sharply increased the enforcement of the hijab. In July 2022, he instituted a “hijab and chastity” decree prioritizing hijab enforcement, including harsh regulations on women’s dress in workplaces and increased government propaganda about the hijab. Women not wearing “complete hijab” (covering not only the hair but the neck and shoulders) have been prohibited from entering government offices and banks and using public transit. And the head of the Headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice announced that the regime would utilize facial-recognition technology for hijab enforcement, likely exploiting data from new biometric identity cards.

The regime increased patrols of the Morality Police to monitor hijab compliance, with arbitrary detentions—and sometimes beatings—if even a few strands of hair were uncovered. Secretly recorded videos of Morality Police abuses circulated online. One woman, 28-year-old Sepideh Rashno, was arrested and beaten, and then state television broadcast her forced “apology.” Her face was covered with bruises.

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Arrest and Death of Mahsa Amini and Resulting Protests

On September 13, 2022, the Morality Police arrested 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini in the street in Tehran while she was visiting the city with her family. The Morality Police told Amini’s brother that they were detaining her for “improper” hijab and taking her to an “educational and orientation class.” They threw her into a van and, according to eyewitnesses, beat her in the vehicle while en route to the police station. The Morality Police informed her brother two hours after her arrest, as he waited outside the station for her, that she had suffered a heart attack and brain seizure. He watched an ambulance take her, comatose, to the hospital. “I found her face swollen and her legs black and blue,” her brother said after visiting her. Amini died on September 16, 2022. That day, state television broadcast a video purporting to show Amini going into the class, walking toward an officer, and falling down abruptly. President Raisi called Amini’s father, Amjad, conveying his condolences and promising to initiate an investigation. Amjad said to the press that he told Raisi the televised video was “lies” and “censored.” Amjad also claimed the authorities had refused to show him surveillance footage of his daughter’s trip inside the police van.

Thousands of Iranians across the country have taken to the streets to protest against the regime after Amini’s death. Demonstrators have chanted “Women, life, freedom,” “Death to Khamenei,” “Death to the dictator.” Women are increasingly going outside without a hijab, with some publicly removing and even burning their hijabs and cutting their hair. The regime arrested the female journalist who first drew widespread attention to Amini’s death, Niloufar Hamedi, and is reportedly keeping her in solitary confinement at the notoriously brutal Evin Prison.

There have been additional reports of women protesters dying amid the 2022 crackdown on the unrest. 16-year-old Nika Shakarami disappeared ten days after protesting in Tehran on September 20, 2022. BBC Persian reported in her last message to a friend, she indicated she was being pursued by Iranian security forces. Nika was later found with her nose crushed and skull broken. Then security forces stole her body to prevent her family from holding a funeral. Another case involved 22-year-old Hadis Najafi, who was also protesting, and was killed by security forces in Karaj on September 21. Hadis’ sister said she was shot in the head and neck with live ammunition and birdshot from a shotgun.

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