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April 15, 2005 VOLUME 11
E-ZAN VOICE OF WOMEN AGAINST FUNDAMENTALISM IN IRAN
To our readers,
Recently, Dr. Sharam Azam, the attending physician to Ms.
Zahra Kazemi, took political refuge in Canada. Kazemi, the
54-year-old Iranian-Canadian photojournalist was arrested and killed July 2003.
Dr. Azam, who worked in Tehran’s military hospital, was the person who notified
the Canadian Embassy on Ms. Kazemi’s mistreatment and near-death state. Kazemi
died in less than 48 hours arrival to the hospital. Dr. Azam who was not
allowed to talk to anyone at the time is now revealing Kazemi’s case to the
western media. He told the media that Kazemi died because of beatings, torture
and rape while in the custody of Iranian regime. His examination indicated that
she had bruises all over her body, fractured skull, broken fingers, missing
fingernails and smashed nose. Kazemi was
unconscious when taken to the hospital because she was also raped and flogged
on the back.
Such brutal and inhumane treatment revealed by an
eyewitness expert is yet another example of a misogynous ideology of the
fundamentalist regime in Iran. However, Tehran’s behavior towards
Kazemi has gone on deaf ears in the West. All the bastions of human rights and
democracy from Washington to Paris have stayed away from
condemning Tehran’s fundamentalist regime
for this outrageous human rights violation of a Canadian citizen. If the
barbaric regime of Iran dares to do what they
did to a Canadian citizen, one can only imagine what this regime does to its
own citizens. Where is the outcry and outrage? It is time for the world to look
at the Tehran’s regime for what it is
and what it stands for. The threat of Islamic Fundamentalism is a global threat
and can no longer be ignored. Kazemi’s case indicates how Tehran’s regime has waged a
war on women and freedom of press. We should not allow Tehran to win this war.
Women’s Forum
Against Fundamentalism in Iran (WFAFI) demands that the Western governments,
specifically Europe, to look beyond their short term economic benefits and
value human rights Iranians and journalists over euros. WFAFI also urges Washington to be more outspoken on
the on-going violations of human rights in Iran. Europe and U.S. should support Canada’s endeavor to hold Tehran’s regime accountable
for its crimes against Kazemi. Her case should be reminder for the West that
women’s rights and human rights should be an integral part of any principled
policy towards Tehran
E-Zan Featured Headlines
Kyodo
- World News - Mar 22, 2005
Japanese tourists Shoko Tanaka and
Mariko Aritaki will be covering up in headscarves for their first live soccer
match as Japan take on Iran in Tehran in a Group B qualifier for the 2006
World Cup finals on Friday. As only two of a tiny number of traveling female
Japanese fans who will be among an almost exclusively male crowd of over
100,000 at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium, they feel quite
privileged to be able to watch the match at all. After all, Iranian women, many
of whom are the Islamic country's most passionate fans, will be forced to stay
at home and watch the game on television as the Iran Football Federation has
upheld a ban on them from entering stadiums. For Iranian women, cheering on
their favorite team from the terraces has not been possible for over two
decades. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, women have been banned from
attending men's sporting events.
Edmond Sun - Mar 31, 2005
An emergency room doctor
present when Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was brought in to a Tehran hospital says she
showed obvious signs of torture. Shahram Aazam says Iranian native had been
beaten, her fingernails pulled out, legs lacerated and fingers broken. He also
said the 54-year-old showed signs of being raped when she was brought into the Tehran hospital in June 2003
after being detained for three days. Kazemi, who was arrested by Iranian
authorities while photographing a demonstration, died shortly afterward. Aazam
recently arrived in Canada with his family after
gaining refugee status. "Everything I saw indicated it was organized
torture and not an injury that caused her death," he said. The case has
caused diplomatic tension between Canada and Iran. Iran has refused to return
Kazemi's remains to her son and has resisted attempts by Canada to have her attackers
punished.
NRO – April
4, 2005
The point, however, is that the
mullahs have long "exposed themselves" as an outlaw nation. The
question is whether the Western world, including the United States, is going to do the one thing
required to render justice: Support those Iranians who want to free their
people from the grips of this murderous regime. The brutal treatment of Iranian
women by the mullahcracy is a daily occurrence, not an isolated case. As
"Iran Focus" reported on March 2, "at least 54 Iranian
girls and young women, between the ages of 16 and 25, are sold on the streets
of Karachi in Pakistan on a daily basis," according to "a senior
women's affairs analyst...speaking to a state-run news agency." The
analyst, Mahboubeh Moghadam, added that there are at least 300,000 runaway
girls in Iran right now, the result, in
Moghadam's words, of "the government policy which has resulted in poverty
and the deprival of rights for the majority of people in society."
Professor Donna M. Hughes, at the University of Rhode Island, one of the few Western scholars
courageous enough to keep reporting on these horrors, says that the enslaved
women are typically sold to people in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, such as Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.
Reuters – April 5, 2005
A woman supporting the
Iranian opposition movement takes part in a mock stoning during a protest
against the visit of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami
to Paris, April
5, 2005. Some one thousand people participated in the demonstration in
protest of Khatami's visit to Paris where he spoke at UNESCO headquarters and later met French President Jacques
Chirac.
Hambasteghi Meli Website – April 8, 2005
Hassan Taher-Ahmadi,
the head of Iran’s Health Ministry in
the Central States, issued a statement about foreign women who visit Iran. In his statement he
said:” One of the benefits of Islamic Hejab is the change in women’s demeanor.
If a woman wears a Hejab but still move around in a flirtatious way to sexually
provoke men, her Hejab has no value.” He
added: “A Muslim woman must have Hejab in all dimension beyond her Islamic
cover. She should have behavioral Hejab as well. They way she sits, or gets up
or walks is very important.” This statement provoked a great deal of protest
among female doctors and nurses.
Peyke Iran website – April 8, 2005
Last year, Mohammad Hossein
Poryanmher, head of Iran’s judiciary public relations
department, told the Associated Press that Leila Mafi was sentenced to death
and she is not mentally ill. Leila who was arrested two years ago for
prostitution is known to the human rights organizations as mentally ill 19 year
old. Recent government documents have been available by Peyke Iran website which indicates that Leila
is indeed mentally ill.
Iran Focus – April 11, 2005
A number of government
officials and security officers were arrested during raids on at least five
houses used as brothels in and around the town of Neka (northern Iran).The raids, conducted
during the past two weeks, uncovered several organized child prostitution rings
running the brothels. Many runaway girls, some as young as 13, were being forced
into prostitution by these gangs. A number of officers from Iran’s notorious State
Security Forces (SSF) and commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps
were also arrested in the brothels. The heads of a number of local government
departments and institutions, including the head of the Neka branch of the
Ministry of Telecommunications were among those rounded up in the raids. The
girls have also been arrested pending judicial sentencing.
E-Zan Featured Reports
In Iran, a
time for courage
By Faezeh Sami in Denver Post
March 20, 2005
This is a time to celebrate the acts
of courage. This is a time to reflect on progress we've made. This is a time to
call for change. This is a time to salute the women around the world who have
strived for freedom and equality. Iranian women have faced the darkest period
of their history in the last three decades and wish to prevent the same thing
happening to the women of Iraq. A quarter century ago, Islamic
vigilantes empowered by Ayatollah Khomeini's misogynistic decrees targeted
Iranian women. Those who did not adhere to Islamic "veiling" were
subject to the harshest treatments, including burning their faces with acid. In
Iraq, a pamphlet recently found on a campus declared:
"Any girl student who does not wear a veil and who wears Western clothing
will have her face burned with chemicals." Last October, Rana Faud, a
student from Mustansiriya University, was abducted as she was leaving
the campus. Within an hour, the young woman, still dressed in blue jeans, was found
unconscious but unharmed. Even non-Muslim students feel obligated to wear the
veil. In Iran, Khomeini instigated what he called
a cultural revolution that took women out of universities and the professional
environment and put them back in the home. Now, we are seeing Iraqi women
fleeing universities. According to reports by the ministry of higher education,
3,000 female students have indicated they want to postpone their education
because of the threats. Iranian women have paid a heavy price for their
struggle against fundamentalism. Tens of thousands of women have been executed
in Iran since 1979. Women played a very
active role in voicing their rights. Women who have been involved in
demonstrations have been arrested and imprisoned merely for participating. At
least 14 women have been stoned to death since President Mohammad Khatami took
office in 1997. The suicide rate in Iran is one of the highest in the world.
According to the Research Committee of the Women's Forum Against Fundamentalism
in Iran ( www.wfafi.org) , 75 percent of suicides are
women. Of those, 81 percent are between 15 and 31 years old. Last summer, a
16-year-old girl was hanged in public for "acts incompatible with
chastity," according to Amnesty International. Atefeh Rajabi was executed
on Aug. 15 in her hometown of Neka. Despite her family's efforts to obtain a
lawyer, Atefeh was denied one by the clerical judge. After her execution, the
judge, Haji Rezai, said he had carried out the sentence because of Atefeh's
sharp tongue. Without a lawyer, she had dared to defend herself, and talk back
to the fundamentalists in Iran's court system. For that, she was
given the most severe punishment. It is time for a change. A global fight is
needed against the threat of Islamic fundamentalism. The answer to end all
oppression is democracy. The continuous violations of human rights in Iran, particularly against women, must
be opposed. Courageous efforts must be made in order to side with Iranian people.
The U.S. and Europe must speak in one voice when it
comes to defending women's rights and human rights in general. The Western
world must respect Iranians for their struggle for democracy. We have one
simple request: Freedom and equality. This is a time to celebrate the acts of
courage. This is a time to reflect on progress we've made. This is a time to
call for change. This is a time to salute the women around the world who have
strived for freedom and equality. Iranian women have faced the darkest period
of their history in the last three decades and wish to prevent the same thing
happening to the women of Iraq. A quarter century ago, Islamic
vigilantes empowered by Ayatollah Khomeini's misogynistic decrees targeted
Iranian women. Those who did not adhere to Islamic "veiling" were
subject to the harshest treatments, including burning their faces with acid.
In Iraq, a pamphlet recently found on a
campus declared: "Any girl student who does not wear a veil and who wears
Western clothing will have her face burned with chemicals." Last October,
Rana Faud, a student from Mustansiriya University, was abducted as she was leaving
the campus. Within an hour, the young woman, still dressed in blue jeans, was
found unconscious but unharmed. Even non-Muslim students feel obligated to wear
the veil. In Iran, Khomeini instigated what he called
a cultural revolution that took women out of universities and the professional
environment and put them back in the home. Now, we are seeing Iraqi women
fleeing universities. According to reports by the ministry of higher education,
3,000 female students have indicated they want to postpone their education
because of the threats.
Iranian women have paid a heavy
price for their struggle against fundamentalism. Tens of thousands of women
have been executed in Iran since 1979. Women played a very
active role in voicing their rights. Women who have been involved in
demonstrations have been arrested and imprisoned merely for participating. At
least 14 women have been stoned to death since President Mohammad Khatami took
office in 1997. The suicide rate in Iran is one of the highest in the world.
According to the Research Committee of the Women's Forum Against Fundamentalism
in Iran (www.wfafi.org) , 75 percent of
suicides are women. Of those, 81 percent are between 15 and 31 years old.
Last summer, a
16-year-old girl was hanged in public for for "acts incompatible with
chastity," according to Amnesty International. Atefeh Rajabi was executed
on Aug. 15 in her hometown of Neka. Despite her family's efforts to obtain a
lawyer, Atefeh was denied one by the clerical judge. After her execution, the
judge, Haji Rezai, said he had carried out the sentence because of Atefeh's
sharp tongue. Without a lawyer, she had dared to defend herself, and talk back
to the fundamentalists in Iran's court system. For that, she was
given the most severe punishment. It is time for a change. A global fight is
needed against the threat of Islamic fundamentalism. The answer to end all
oppression is democracy. The continuous violations of human rights in Iran, particularly against women, must
be opposed. Courageous efforts must be made in order to side with Iranian
people. The U.S. and Europe must speak in one voice when it
comes to defending women's rights and human rights in general. The Western
world must respect Iranians for their struggle for democracy. We have one
simple request: Freedom and equality.
Hidden
Side Of Iranian Society
By Golnaz Esfandiari RFE/RL
March 25, 2005
Iranian-born
director Nahid Persson earned high honors at the recent Creteil International
Women's Films Festival for her chronicle of two young women on the streets of Tehran.
"Prostitution Behind the Veil" follows the lives of two young friends
-- Minna and Fariba -- who have turned to prostitution to make a living. Persson, who left Iran for Sweden two decades ago, says
she met and befriended Fariba and Minna while filming a fortune-teller in Tehran about two years ago.
She says the women were happy that someone was interested in their plight.
"We had a natural relation. We trusted each other," Persson
says. "They even asked me on several occasions to go with them when they
were going to meet some of their regular customers, because they were from some
police station. But I didn't do it out of the fear that I had to film someone
who wears the uniform of a pasdar [Iran's Revolutionary Guard].
And it was also better for them that I didn't do it."
She says most of Fariba and Minna's customers complied with Islamic law through
temporary marriages of convenience called "sighehs."
Drug addiction is a major problem in Iran, especially among young
men. But the number of female drug users is said to be growing.
Iranian newspapers estimate that
there are currently about 300,000 women working the streets. Many are runaways
who have fled abusive families. Others sell their bodies out of simple poverty. Persson says both women acquired their heroin addictions
through drug-addicted husbands. "Fariba had a terrible kidney pain, [and]
once her husband told her, 'Smoke some of this, you'll be fine.' She didn't
know that it is very dangerous. She thought she would smoke it once, feel
better, and that would be it," Persson says. "But when she smokes the
first [time], she sees that the pain goes away. And every time she suffered
kidney pain, she would smoke. And it went on like this until one day her
husband sends her into the street and tells her, 'Go bring clients.'"
Minna's story is a similar one. After her husband was jailed on drug-related
charges, she found herself and her infant child on the street. That's where she
met her first customer. Persson says both women turned to prostitution out of
distress and desperation: "They don't get any social support. Both of them
really had no choice -- like thousands of other women. Fariba told me how the
first time had been terrible for her, and she didn't want to do it but she had
to." To the dismay of authorities in Iran's Islamic republic, the
number of prostitutes has grown in recent years. Iranian newspapers estimate
that there are currently about 300,000 women working the streets. Many are
runaways who have fled abusive families. Others sell their bodies out of simple
poverty.
Iranian authorities have warned that without adequate support and an
improvement in living conditions, the ranks of those who are officially labeled
"street women" could increase.
Defeating
misogyny in Iran
By Roya Johnson –
American Thinker
April 5th, 2005
Last month, an
anti-government riot erupted in Tehran following a soccer
match between Iran and Japan. Eye-witnesses reported
that the regime used special anti-riot units to crackdown on the 100,000-strong
crowd. Young people set tires alight in nearby squares after the match. Women
actively took part in this riot which followed a much larger anti-regime unrest
in Tehran the week before.
Iranian authorities ban
women spectators from attending soccer matches, yet thousands of women and
teenage girls gathered outside the stadium calling for the overthrow of the
mullahs. But this brave act of defiance by no means was an isolated case.
Indeed, Iranian women have been playing a major role in Iran’s national resistance
against the ruling clerical tyranny for more than two decades now. From the
1906 Constitutional movement to the 1979 anti-monarchic revolution, women have
always been a key component of anti-dictatorial movements in Iran. For the past 26 years,
Iranian women have suffered and struggled against misogynistic abuse of the
theocratic regime. Institutionalized violence is carried out in the name of
religion and supported by a full-blown theocracy. Any flavor of political
dissent in Iran is met with barbaric
reprisal; however female political activists bear the heaviest brunt of the
abuse in prisons.
My observations during
years of incarceration as a female political prisoner in Iran proved beyond any
doubt that nothing frightens the mullahs more than a woman who has risen
against them; more so if she was a Muslim woman whose defiance exposed her
oppressors hiding behind religious pretexts to justify their misogyny. The
mullahs’ number one enemies are independent, articulate, political, Iranian
women who not only challenge the regime politically and socially but also
ideologically.
The politics of Misogyny
Misogyny is a primary characteristic of the fundamentalist ideology ruling Iran. These tyrants rely on
physiological traits to measure, separate and categorize people. Utilizing
Hitlerian logic, women are physically and intellectually weaker than men. The
establishment and maintenance of supremacy of the sort defined by the
fundamentalist regime requires an inferior class. In the mullahs’ view, Iranian
women, despite their articulate and vocal objections, should be forced into
this role. The women, of course, have not budged.
Gender-based differences are used to justify sexual discrimination,
violence and animosity towards women. Iran’s former President
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has said: "The
difference in stature, vitality, voice, development, muscular quality and
physical strength of men and women shows that men are stronger and more capable
in all fields… Men’s brains are larger… These differences affect the delegation
of responsibilities, duties and rights."
This is the bedrock of
the fundamentalists' rationale used to mobilize their ideological forces in
society, which results in women's flogging for mal-veiling, stoning, raping
female political prisoners before execution, polygamy, and temporary marriages.
The misogynistic and suppressive behavior of Tehran rulers carried out
under the cloak of religion has nothing to do with Islam. The resistance of the
female political prisoners, majority of them Muslims, demonstrated to the
mullahs that Iranian women were indeed defying their fundamentalists’
definition of women.
Current Status of women
No other government in
the world has executed as many women as Iranian regime since the 1979 anti-Shah
revolution. A common method of punishing women in public is by stoning them to
death. At least 14 women have been sentenced to stoning or were stoned to death
since 1997 when Iran’s President Mohammad
Khatami came to office. Iran has had the highest
number of female prisoners in the world.
Women do not fare any
better in the social affairs. The World Health Organization considers Iran as the third country in
the rank of women death by suicide. Women make up about 75% of the
victims of suicide in Iran, 81% of who are between
the ages of 15 to 31 yeas old. According to the official police report,
the State Security Forces arrest 50 runaway girls every day in Tehran. Currently there
are more than several thousands runaway girls missing in Tehran, according to the
report.
Confronting the
Challenge
Iranian women resist the
regime daily by pushing the mullah’ draconian dress code to its limit, by
raising their voice in the divorce courts, by writing articles and books inside
and outside of Iran, by holding conferences and events to expose the misogyny
of the Iranian regime and by joining organized resistance groups participating
in the growing movement against the Iranian regime. Iranian women are fed up
with the status quo in Iran and are taking matters
to their own hands.
Late February, a leading
Iranian opposition figure, Maryam Rajavi, addressing the International Women
Conference in Paris, called for a united
front against Islamic fundamentalism. She stated that “Women’s vanguard force
provides the bedrock for the decisive defeat of Islamic fundamentalists...
because it was confirmed in Iran in both theory and
practice that women were antifundamentalist in all respects. The reason simply
had to do with the nature of fundamentalism, where gender distinction and
misogyny formed its pillars. The decisive role of women is intrinsic to this
struggle.” What makes the above statement more significant is the fact Rajavi
is a Muslim woman herself who has repeatedly called for a secular democratic Iran.
Despite much talks and
debate, the international community has not yet adequately absorbed the plight
of Iranian women. Iranian women are determined to play an active and leading
role in the democracy movement aiming to unseat the ruling theocratic tyranny.
Nothing can prevent women’s growing participation, not even the mullahs’
misogynistic barbarism.
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us your comments or op-ed on relevant topics for future issues, email editor@wfafi.org
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11, April 15, 2005
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