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Women’s
Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Public
Statement; ACTION ALERT
CONTACT:
press@wfafi.org
October 23, 2005
Iran’s Fundamentalist regime
steps up the Violence Against Women
BOSTON, MA- The new hard-line
government in Iran has stepped up the
crackdown against women in an attempt to silence any voice of dissent.
Institutionalized violence against women is a daily practice in Iran. With the so called
election of the terrorist President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, the government has stepped up suppression of women. WFAFI urges
the rights advocates, women's groups and international NGO's to launch a
campaign on the following cases:
October 2 – State-run daily Sharq reported that Iran’s State Supreme Court sentenced a
woman to death. The woman, named Shahla, was accused of murdering the wife of
Nasser Mohammad-Khani, the famous Iranian soccer
player. The daily wrote that Shahla had proclaimed her innocence throughout the
trial. The State Supreme Court upheld the original court’s ruling. She faces
imminent execution.
October 10 – A semi-official daily reported
that the senior Iranian cleric in the city of Qom,
Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, called for death
sentences to be handed down to prostitutes. “Those who try to spread prostitution,
corruption, and sins in society must be dealt with”, he said. . “These people
are Mofsid Fi-Alarz and
must be dealt with under Islamic law”, the senior Ayatollah said. Mofsid Fi-Alarz literally means
“corruptors on earth” and under Iran’s Sharia
law is punishable by death.
October 15 – A state-run daily reported that a court in Iran sentenced a woman to death by
stoning for adultery and an Afghan man to execution and 100 lashes on charges
of murder. The woman identified as Soqra, was accused
of adultery and aiding the Afghan man, in the murder of her husband. According
to the daily Etemaad, Soqra
maintained her innocence throughout the trial. A Tehran court sentenced Soqra
to be stoned to death for adultery and she also received a 15-year jail sentence
for her part in the murder. Alireza was sentenced to
death for the murder and to 100 lashes for adultery.
October 18 – State-run daily Javan
reported that
in the Iranian capital of Tehran a woman was sentenced to execution.
The woman named Raheleh, was found guilty of murdering her husband, whom she had
accused of having an affair with a younger woman. Raheleh said that
she was threatened by her abusive husband each time she asked him to end his
affair. Hojatoleslam Kouh Kamarei, the Islamic cleric who presided over the case,
sentenced Raheleh to execution.
ACTION ALERT
You can make a difference. Please take action
today.
- Please
write to Secretary of State and US Ambassador to the UN, usa@un.int urge them to take actions on
these issues.
- Please
write to Secretary General Kofi Annan to stop the execution and
stoning sentences.
- Please
submit the information through Violence Against
Women form.
4. Please write to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and urge them to issue
a statement on the following cases and mobilize their network.
###
http://www.wfafi.org
P.O. Box
15205
Boston, MA
02215
Tel: (617) 590-1665
Fax: (610) 862-9110