ما نمی خواهد تسلیم.

به جهان
ما نمی خواهد تسلیم.
ازادی

To free Iran we must have all oppositions factions be united.

To free Iran we must have all oppositions factions be united.

 

صف های طویل مقابل پمپ های بنزین زاهدان2

Iran.21.11.2012. Interview with mother of Martyr Sattar Beheshti: They t...

Iranian Faith

If you lose your faith.
Then there is nothing more to live for.

 

اگر ایمان خود را از دست بدهند.
پس هیچ چیز بیشتری برای زندگی وجود دارد.

 

 

Free to do anything

It’s after you’ve lost everything that you are free to do anything

 

November.2012. Former Revolutionary guards member exposing the ...

Iran. Nov. 2012. The Grave and the House of Martyr blogger, Sattar Beheshti

Murdering opposition

Tell the world

IRGC try to wipe out every opposition.

 Before D-Day.

 Electionday 14 june 2013

Celebration of Freedom

 

جشن وجود خواهد داشت.
جشن آزادی است.

There will be a celebration.

Celebration of Freedom

 

آزادی به زودی خواهد آمد

چهار صبح است.
در اوایل ماه نوامبر.
من می نویسم به شما یک نامه.
تهران سرد است.
من دوست دارم جایی که من زندگی می کنند.
آزادی به زودی خواهد آمد.

I Believe

I believe in our victory
I believe in our strenght
I believe in freedom.
I believe in a democratic Iran

I believe. 

Mahboubeh Karami

Mahboubeh Karami, Human Rights and Women Activists prisoner with sever health problems not permitted for medical leave

 

Mahboubeh Karami, Human Rights and Women Activists prisoner with sever physical and mental problems was not permitted for medical leave by Iran's judicial authorities.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Mahboubeh Karami, Political prisoner of the Women Ward of Evin prison, had been on medical leave two times, just three and seven days, but was backed to prison with incomplete medical period by judicial authorities.

Mahboubeh Karami, 42, was arrested in March 2010 and detained, without charge or trial, in solitary confinement in Evin Prison, Tehran until 18 August 2010, at which time she was released on bail equivalent to US$500,000. She began serving a three-year prison sentence on 15 May 2011, imposed for her peaceful activities in support of greater rights for women. She was convicted of “membership of an illegal organization (HRAI)”, “gathering and colluding with intent to harm state security and for spreading propaganda against the system”.

Mahboubeh Karami has health problems that her family and friends fear will worsen in prison. She was suffering from depression at the time of her arrest in March 2010, which became more severe while she was in detention. She is also said to suffer from insomnia and respiratory problems. She was in detention at the time of her mother’s death in 2009 and she was not allowed prison leave to attend the one year anniversary of her mother’s death. Prior to her arrest, she was the only carer for her aging father, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Her father also passed away later.

Mahboubeh Karami had been arrested four times before on similar charges. Each time, she was detained for several days before being released.





 

Letter from Evin 2

 

And this is how we turn thirty!

By Atefeh Nabavi

Translation by Davood Eftekhar

Two years and three months have passed. In the agitated moments of [ward] 209 [solitary confinement] I thought of the [amount of] time I would have to spend in this place. My mind could not comprehend the word “year”, and the months and days were more plausible and desirable criteria for measuring time. “20 days passed. They won’t keep you for more than 50 days… one month passed, [but] temporary detention is usually two months. Three months, four months, seven months…” You think: “Don’t worry, the passage of time is to your advantage; as it passes, you reach the end.” But when you turn 30 in prison, instead of hours and days and months, your criterion changes to years. You don’t feel like you have gained [anything] from the passage of time. You realize these are perhaps the brightest moments of your life, which you restlessly see pass you by; unique and irreversible moments. {This is the time] for passion, enthusiasm, and youthful ecstasy, but you spent all this time here in this swamp like a swimmer unable to surface for breath. Bitterness fills your soul.

100 days [were spent] in ward 209, one year [was spent] in the public ward with criminals, addicts, murderers, and sick girls and women, who are undoubtedly, to a great extent, the products of their perverse society. And now [it has been] over 11 months of living in an isolated environment where there is no communication with the outside world. We live disconnected from whatever links humans to others, nature and life. We only get 20 minutes per week for cabin visits with our families. Prison guards threaten to end [visitation] to put [increased] pressure on us.
More than two years have passed since the [June 2009 Iranian Presidential] election and the result was nothing but hundreds of years of prison sentences for the children of this land. And now I, one of the first post-election female prisoners, at the turn of my thirtieth birthday, am paying the price for a protest not tolerated by those in power. This is my third year of imprisonment without furlough, face-to-face visits, and telephone contact.

On June 15, 2009, just like the three to four million people who came to the streets to show their protest, I felt like a significant incident was taking place in my country. I felt [obliged] to take part and rely on the promises made only one week before, during the presidential debates. I imagined that I would return home after the protest and remain a social activist. However, not only was this promise not kept and I did not return home, but also my husband was sent to prison because he had followed up on my case.

Now, I am experiencing the unwritten chapters of history. [I have experienced] interrogation, intimidation, solitary confinement, [witnessing] the execution and exile of my closest friends (someone from the next bed or from the same table [where we used to eat]), the endless desire for hearing the voice of those dearest to you ( even for a single moment).-I haver watched the silent mourning of those who are not permitted to attend the funeral of their loved ones, and the restlessness of a mother who cannot participate in the wedding ceremony of her child. [I have experienced] disease, sorrow, and nostalgia; which all seems to become intensified and less bearable by the tall and concrete [prison] walls.

However…
Experiencing these conditions is not something you [would want to] wish upon anyone. The combination of pain and passion embedded in yearning souls creates an elixir that not only wears the soul but also polishes and purifies it.
This is how we turn thirty in [prison]…


Letter from Evin

 

 

 

 

Now Banooye Sabz publishes the English translation of Bari Bani Yaghou summoned last month to serve a one-year sentence, to her husband and fellow journalist Bahman Ahmadi Amoui --- arrested with Bani Yahoob just after the disputed 2009 Presidential election, he is serving a term of 7 years and 4 months.

 

My dearest Bahman,
It has been two months since I last saw you; two months since that last visit at Rajai Shahr prison when I looked at you from behind those iron bars and double pane windows. I forgot to tell you how hesitant and skeptical I was about attending that last visitation. I had even planned to turn myself over at Evin prison a few days earlier in order to avoid the arrival of Thursday, the visitation day at Rajai Shahr.

Perhaps as you read my letter you may find what I just wrote surprising, so let me explain why that farewell visitation was so difficult for me.I knew then that we would have to wait at least another year to see each other.Can you believe that? An entire year! I was afraid that I would not have the courage to say goodbye for an entire year. I was afraid that I would break down and cry, tears rolling down my face and that image would haunt you for an entire year. In the end I overcame my fear and forced myself to come to see you.

The prosecutor's office and prison officials refused to allow even a woman who was about to go to prison the right to see her incarcerated husband, face to face, one last time. There was a time when this type of restrictions would shock me, but these days nothing surprises me anymore. Does it surprise you?

Alas this last visit also took place while you sat behind those two pane, opaque windows and iron bars at Rajai Shahr prison. Like so many other of our visitations, you were wearing your green T-Shirt. The color green suites you.You would always say: "Jila, since I know you really like the color green, I'll wear this T-shirt on visitation days!" We had only twenty minutes and we were both speaking very quickly as if to fit all that needed to be said in the next 20 months into the twenty minutes that lay ahead of us. It was so hard!

Of course because you have more experience with life behind bars, you kept giving me advice on what to do in order to make my upcoming prison sentence more bearable. You spoke of the importance of exercise, the need to read and study and to try and get some fresh air every day. You even recommended a few books you thought I should read; books that were as you put it, particularly enjoyable if read behind bars. I kept saying: "Bahman don't worry so much about me and this one year I will be spending behind bars, for this too shall pass."

God only knows how nervous I was on that day; nervous that one of us would break down and cry, our tears rolling down our faces. The twenty minutes went by and neither of us cried. In the end, I placed my hand on those damned, double pane windows and you placed yours on the other side, a gesture that rather than an embrace or a kiss was supposed to demonstrated the depth of our feelings for each other. Our visitation time came to an end. You stood up and walked away and as I watched you walking away from me from behind those windows and iron bars, reassured that you could no longer see me, I finally let loose, quietly sobbing, tears rolling down my face. I don't know how you must have felt during those moments when you were walking away from me....

On that first day at Evin prison while passing by the general ward 350 on my way to the women's ward, I was filled with a sense of joy. It was the place you had spent three years of your life. I had always wanted to see it at least once in my life, even if from a far. Now I live next to the same ward where you were being held until a few weeks ago.

As you know, the women's ward is right next to ward 350 where male political prisoners are detained. At times we hear the loud voices of your former cell mates from the other side of the wall. Each time I am reminded of the letter you wrote to me in which you talked about hearing the voices of the female prisoners and how you envisioned me amongst them, knowing that soon I would be one of them too-and now I am here but you are no longer on the other side of this wall.

The images, walls and incidents here are all familiar to me. They are familiar because in the past three years you repeatedly wrote about them to me in your letters or described them to me during those prison visits from behind a telephone booth. Today I am personally experiencing your descriptions. You had even told me about the moon in the skies above Evin prison.

Last night I was sitting in the ward when Shabnam Madadzadeh cried out "Come out everyone and see how beautiful the moon is tonight." It was at that moment that I remembered how you and your friends would sit in the yard at Evin's ward 350 staring at the moon. I followed Shabnam to the small area designated for fresh air at the women's ward and I stared at the moon; the moon that was at times looked as though it was embracing a grey cloud but would become bright and clear only a few moments later.

"I loved the moon from the time I was a little girl! You see, the moon is so beautiful. When I was at Rajai Shahr prison I wasn't able to see the moon. I remember how much I missed it, then suddenly one day from between several doors and iron bars I saw a glimpse of the moon. It was such a fulfilling feeling!" Shabnam explained.

I am trying to write a short account of my days here at Evin so that you can see that just as you had said, my days here are actually not that bad. Our days are calm. Most people are involved in rigorous study programs, sports, crafts, or teaching a foreign language. Most female prisoners are in good spirits. Their high spirits energize me. I am filled with hope when I see Bahareh Hedayat's energy, vitality and determination despite her heavy prison sentence. I am energized by the presence of women such as Mahvash Shahryari and Fariba Kamal Abadi, both serving 20-year prison sentences behind bars; women who have been denied furlough for the past few years and yet remain calm and patient. I am motivated by the presence of Nasrin Sotoudeh who has spent almost three years in prison without a day of furlough. Given that we are relative newcomers to Evin, Shiva, Mahsa and I have no right to be impatient or lack vitality or energy. We too read like they do. We also exercise and remain patient while behind bars.

The women's ward at Evin currently houses 33 political prisoners. They transferred Faezeh [Hashemi, the daughter of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani] at around 12:30 am. At 12 midnight the lights are turned off. We were all in bed, either asleep or reading. The transfer of a new prisoner so late into the night is not an ordinary event, for most prisoners are transferred to the general ward during business hours. When Faezeh arrived we all got out of our beds. Everyone was wondering what had happened and why Hashemi Rafsanjani's daughter would be transferred to Evin at this time of night. Faezeh described with great excitement how she had been arrested and transferred to Evin. Nazanin Deyhimi was transferred to Evin at around 3:00 pm. She is the daughter of the famous writer and translator Derakhshan Deyhimi

.
There is little difference between day and night behind bars. As such the arrival of a new prisoner is considered an important event, leading to much commotion inside the ward.Those who arrive provide a glimpse of life outside prison. The veteran prisoners first ask the newcomers to talk about the reasons behind their arrest. The questioning usually ends with "So what else is new? How is everything out there? Tell me about the latest developments and analysis."
We are 33 women with a variety of opinions and at times opposing points of views at Evin's women's ward. Some prisoners are supporters of the Green movement, others are Baha'i, Born Again Christians. or members of the Mojahedin Khalq.

My dearest Bahman, what I find most attractive about this prison is that individuals with a variety of backgrounds and apposing points of view are coexisting peacefully. We sit together, share meals, have discussions and arguments. I find this peaceful coexistence extremely gratifying. My experience here behind bars has made me hopeful that I may someday witness a similar model implemented across our society at large. I look forward to the day when men and women with a variety of political and religious beliefs live together without the need to eliminate one another, or become enemies as a result of their differences of opinion, religion, or political ideologies.
If such a coexistence is possible behind bars, why should it not be possible across our beloved land? I am hopeful that some day we will witness such a society in Iran and know that better days lie ahead.
I miss you and love you more than ever. Jila Baniyaghoub
The Women's Ward at Evin Prison

PS I don't mean to imply that we never run into problems living together here at Evin. It goes without saying that we too experience our share of disagreements and disputes. What is important however, is that they are ultimately resolved through discussion and dialogue.

We shall return to the streets

If we run. We will fall deep. If we fight. We will overcome. Azadi

Opposition

.پیروزی مزه شیرین است.
ما کسانی که قهرمانان هرگز فراموش نمی کند

Opposition

 

ما نمی خواهد تسلیم.ما مبارزه خواهد کرد.

We will strike back

A Iranian Dilemma

The revolution in Libya was not a success without interference from the west.
The resignation of Mubarak was at the insistence of the USA.

Syria is looking like a second Lebanon from the seventies and will continue to escalate.

And what about Iran?

Iranian opposition has a dilemma. The Syrian adventure with chaos and destruction, not knowing where it ends. Or change by using your vote and voice in the upcoming elections. Hoping for a successor of Mousavi. Who leads the Green Movement and calling for changes.
With the chance of a repeat of the 2009 elections.
A stolen victory.

Iran Human Rights Documentation Center - IHRDC Chart of Executions by the Islamic Republic of Iran - 2012

Iran Human Rights Documentation Center - IHRDC Chart of Executions by the Islamic Republic of Iran - 2012

Database of Political Prisoners in Iran

Evin Prison

A database of political prisoners in Iran has been compiled by online activists using the social media tool, Hyper Activist. The database names the prisoners, information including charges and their activity/occupation, along with their ethnicity. Verification for each prisoner is provided by a source inputted by online activists to the site. The database is currently incomplete and is constantly being updated by online activists with new names. Also adding to its incompleteness is the fact that many political prisoners in Iran are reportedly regularly charged with other crimes in show trials, and thus, are not counted as political prisoners. Through, Hyper Activist, anyone may provide information on political prisoners that are not currently in the database.

In the database provided through Hyper Activist, a very large number of political prisoners listed are of Kurdish descent. In the past couple of years, the number of arrests against activists inside Iran, and in particular Kurdish activists, has increased dramatically. Several Kurdish political prisoners have also been executed after being charged with “moharebeh” or “waging war against God”.

Among those executed in recent years are Kurdish political prisoners, Mr. Farzad Kamangar, Ms. Shirin Alam Hooli, Mr. Ali Heydarian, Mr. Ehsan Fattahian, Mr. Farhad, Tarom, Mr. Hossein Khezri, and Mr. Farhad Vakili. The lives of many more Kurdish and non-Kurdish political prisoners remain at risk. Among those at risk is the well-known former head of the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan and an editor and writer, Mr. Mohammad Seddigh Kaboudvand. Mr. Kaboudvand is reportedly in bad health and may have suffered a stroke while in prison. Iranian authorities have denied him proper medical care and his current health status is unknown as his family has also been denied regular visits with him. Like many others, Mr. Kaboudvand has suffered torture at the hands of Iranian authorities.

You can view the database of political prisoners in Iran through Hyper Activist at http://hyperactivist.info/ipr.html

source: AKR

History of Iran's opposition

Opposition groups in Iran since 1979

Successful opposition movements the world over face opposition after taking power. Iran's Islamic rulers have been no exception to the rule.

Having toppled the autocratic Shah in 1979, the former revolutionaries themselves are now being challenged by groups thirsting for change.

Opposition to them began shortly after the revolution that ended the Shah's reign.

As the nation fought a costly war with Iraq, splits emerged among the once united revolutionary front and the government began a crackdown on dissent in an attempt to consolidate power and bring stability to the nascent Islamic Republic.

Perhaps the most well-known among the early opposition groups was the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK). Despite being closely allied to Ayatollah Khomeini and his supporters throughout the 1970s, the group split from the Supreme Leader soon after the revolution.

In 1981, the conflict between the government and MEK fighters descended into street battles. After the MEK was outlawed, Iraq's Saddam Hussein exploited the group, giving it a base in Iraq and support to wage attacks inside Iran and provide intelligence.

Also among the opposition groups was the Tudeh party, or the "party of the masses". Many Tudeh members were arrested and executed during the 1980s.
In 1981, the Islamic Republic banned all political parties save the Islamic Republic Party. Khomeini later broke up the party in 1985 over internal conflicts; however, only parties that adhered to the Islamic character of the state could operate legally.
Those who held different views paid a heavy price, like Abulhassan Babnisdar, the Islamic Republic's first president. He went into exile after being impeached a year after taking office.

In 1989, another high-profile figure fell foul of the Supreme Leader. Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, Khomeini's heir apparent, was fired after he had called for more openness and crticised the crackdown on dissent.
Montazeri was replaced by the more conservative Ayatollah Ali Khameinei, who succeeded Khomeini upon his death in June 1989, and remains Iran’s the Supreme Leader until today.

Aborted reforms

In 1989, soon after the death of Khomeini, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was elected as president for the first of two terms. Rafsanjani, whose critics accuse of widespread corruption, oversaw the period of reconstruction after nearly a decade of the devastating war with Iran.
Then, in 1997, came the election of the reformist Mohammad Khatami in a surprising landslide victory indicating the country was ready for change.
However, while Khatami encouraged more openness in Iran, his reformist agenda was limited by the judiciary, which remained controlled by conservatives.

Khatami had tried to increase the president’s powers and limit the power of the Guardian Council, a 12-member council half appointed by the Supreme Leader and half selected by parliament, but was blocked by the powerful body that is able to veto parliament and interpret the constitution.

In 1999, after the nationwide student paper Salam was shut down, students took to the streets. For six days students protested. At least five people were killed and thousands more were injured and arrested. Sporadic protests continued in the following decade among mostly students and workers demanding reforms
But it wasn’t until 2009 that Iranians would, for the first time since the 1979 revolution, witness massive street protests against the government.

The “Green Movement”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative who, ironically, doesn't come from a clerical background like most of his predecessors, was elected to his first term as president in 2005. Ahmadinejad’s first term was characterised by defiance to western-imposed sanctions and threats against Iran.
In 2009, Ahmadinejad stood for re-election against his main challenger, Mir-Hussein Mousavi. Mousavi, who served as the Islamic Republic’s first and only prime minister from 1979 until the office was abolished in 1989, was a close ally of former president Khatami and ran as the main reform candidate.

In the lead up to the elections Mousavi held a number of energetic rallies. Mousavi’s supporters dressed themselves in green scarves, wristbands and other items as they paraded in the streets of Iranian cities to show support for the reform candidate.
Despite the visible display of support for Mosuavi, Ahmadinejad emerged from the June elections as the nationwide winner with over 64 per cent of the vote; Mousavi finished second with just under 34 per cent.

On June 13, one day after the elections, protesters turned out in the hundreds of thousands across the country, many chanting and carrying signs around the theme, “where is my vote?” Mousavi’s supporters went from being known as the “Green Wave” to the “Green Movement” and the government responded by ordering a crackdown. More than 100 people were killed and thousands of people were arrested during the protests that lasted for weeks.

Over the next few months, a number of arrested protesters faced trial and many were hanged. Many pro-reform and independent papers were shut down as protests continued. When Ayatollah Montazeri died in December, his funeral became a rallying point with tens of thousands of mourners chanting against the governement. However, by February 11, 2010, the anniversary of the 1979 revolution, the months of uprising seemed effectively crushed.

One year later, in February 2011, the opposition called for protests in solidarity with the uprisings that were then happening in a number of Arab countries. Just before the planned protests, Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, another leading pro-reform politician and a candidate in the 2009 elections, were placed under house arrest. Protests happened in a number of cities for a little over a week, and again hundreds were injured and arrested during the crackdown.

When Iranians go to the polls to elect fresh members of parliament on March 2, they will do so without the major reform candidates on the ballots. Most pro-reform groups are calling for boycott, but some individuals will run as independents. The battle in this election is seen as largely between the conservative camps.

The final Battle

We are approaching the days when there will be no more talk.

 We are approaching the days where the final battle will take place.

 Trust and faith.

 Courage and strength.

 Sadness and joy.

 It all comes together,

Azadi



Freedom comes with the shadows

Fteedom

Freedom always comes with the shadows.

 Of the martyrs who have fallen.

Those martyrs are the heroes of the revolution.

 They will never be forgotten

Only honored,

 Azadi

Prince Reza Pahlavi and Mr. Amir Hossein Jahanchahi

Prince Reza Pahlavi

Amir Hossein Jahanchahi, Green Wave, Londen

Highly respected Prince Reza Pahlavi and Mr, Amir Hossein Jahanchahi.

Now that we are about to be witnesses of the fall of Syria. Now that we are witnessing the courage and the power of ordinary citizens.
Those who show perseverance and strong will lead to the downfall of an evil government.
Then it's time to bring out a joint statement.
A statement that can bring the trust and confidence back to those who need it.
The Iranian people.

Evin Prison, Tehran. Prisoners are under harsh conditions

Intrance Evin Prison, Tehran

Most of the political prisoners in Evin are incarcerated in Wards 209, 350 and Ward 2-A which is under the control of IRGC.
Because these prisoners already were kept under more restrictive conditions, they now have to bear even harsher conditions.

Ward 350 in Evin is located in the basement and these days, it has been divided into two sections for men and women.
This ward that is located in the basement of an isolated building lacking proper facilities and is in much worse condition than the other sections in Evin prison.

Evin Prison

This ward has only four bathroom facilities, that even under the regular circumstances are sub-standard. It does not meet the needs of the 180 inmates, most of whom are political prisoners that were arrested during the post-presidential election events.

Currently, large numbers prisoners of conscience-political prisoners, including many journalists and student activist supporters of the Green Movement, are incarcerated in this ward
.
At the far end of this ward there is a hall, without any facilities or fresh air, that houses the female political prisoners.
There are more than thirty female political prisoners incarcerated in this section that barely has the proper facilities for holding ten inmates.

Visitors Evin Prison

The female political prisoners that were already deprived of fresh air or any proper amenities, and with sub-standard sanitation.
Nasrin Sotoudeh, Bahareh Hedayat, Zhilla Karamzadeh, Mahdiyeh Golro, Atefeh Nabavi and many more are incarcerated in this section

Wards 209 and 2-A prisoners are in even harsher and in a more difficult situation:

Conditions are even much worse in Evin Wards 209 and 2-A. These Wards are essentially illegal and are not under jurisdiction of the Judiciary. They keep the prisoners in these wards under whatever condition they want and Judicial officials are not allowed to visit these sections

Ward 209 cells are equipped with solid doors and the cells are very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer.
The cells in Ward 209 do not have beds, and even in the cold winter season, the prisoners have to sleep on the floor which is covered only by a thin carpet.
The cells in this ward are normally very cold in the winter and with no heating, the prisoners are suffering much harsher conditions.

Ward 209

Officials even deny the prisoners in Wards 209 and 2-A any extra blankets. They even refuse to give the prisoners the warmer clothing that their families provide for them.
The families of inmates in Evin prison provide seasonal clothing for the prisoners which are given to the inmates by the officials.

The prisoners in these two wards have to spend the night on the floor of their cells.
Incarcerated in these 2 Wards are people such as, Behzad Nabavi, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Abdolfatah Soltani, Kohyar Goudarzi and large numbers of political and student activists.
Also, newly arrested prisoners, Parasto Dookouhaki, Marziyeh Rasouli, Arash Sadeghi and Saham Bourghani are now incarcerated in these wards.
At times, the arrested activists are kept in these illegal wards for months in a limbo status

Ward 209

Most of the officials and authorities except for the very high rank Judiciary officials are barred from visiting these wards. Even numerous requests from the Parliament members to inspect these wards have been denied by the Intelligence officials.

Small intern room

After hearing of no heating fuel in Evin, the families of the political prisoners request that the District Attorney and the Judiciary officials address this situation. They ask the officials not to forget that they are responsible for the well being of these prisoners, especially the political prisoners that are incarcerated only for their ideology. The officials must provide the prisoners with proper conditions for the duration of their imprisonment.

Source: Kalameh, Persianobanoo

Iranian women's eyes



Iranian women have such powerful eyes!

I hope one day they can also have a powerful voice.

Freedom from all the dusty old mullahs and it's repressive chauvintistic male driven regime.

The mother's, sisters and wives deserve so much more than what the currently get!

Azadi Irani!

Azadi to all their women!

Azadi!

Iranian women and girls - Victims of exploitation and violence,

Persian Lioness



Throughout the world, women still suffer from discrimination and oppression, for no reason other than their gender. In essence, the plight and suffering of women is the same for all of us. Today, major issues such as peace, social and economic development, and the spread of democracy have become unavoidably entangled with the issues of women.

Despite its defiance, the male-dominated regime is retreating step by step. Yet at the same time, a reactionary, violent and suppressive force called fundamentalism is emerging. Misogynous in character, fundamentalism or religious fanaticism, best represented by Khomeini and his successors in Iran, is threatening all the achievements of the civilized world, particularly those of women. Under the banner of Islam, the fundamentalists are denying the equality of women and men.

Islamic fundamentalism establishes its thesis on the differences between the sexes and the conclusion that the male is superior, and hence, the female is a slave at his service. A parliamentarian in Iran is on record as saying, "Women must accept the reality of men dominating them, and the world must recognize the fact that men are superior." Ultimately, the fundamentalists do not believe women are human. One of the Iranian regime’s key ideologues says: "Women and men are equal in their humane essence, but they are two different forms of humans, with two different sets of attributes and two different psyches..."

Morality Police, Tehran



From the fundamentalist mullahs’ perspective, sexual vice and virtue are the principal criteria for evaluation of women. The most ignoble and unforgivable of all sins is sexual wrongdoing. Piety, chastity and decency are measured by sex-related yardsticks, and seldom applied to political and social realms. Fundamentalism conceives of woman as sinister and satanic; she is the embodiment of sin and seduction. She must not step beyond her house, lest her presence in society breed sin. She must stay at home, serving her husband’s carnal desires; if she fails to comply, she is compelling her man to commit sin outside the home.

The top officials of the fundamentalist regime in Iran emphasize that it is the "sacred" responsibility of a woman to serve her husband and take care of the household. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the mullahs’ "supreme leader," has declared that "women’s first job is to be a wife and mother." Khamenei dismissed the notion of women’s equal participation in social life in July 1997 as "negative, primitive and childish."

When Mohammad Khatami became president in May 1997, there were optimistic predictions that changes were on the way. Despite all the propaganda, Mullah Khatami and his administration’s deeds point to the fact that mullahs’ "moderation" is nothing but a mirage. Khatami is just as committed to the medieval system of Velayat-Faqih that Khomeini founded. His administration is no different than previous governments, and rests on the same basis of fanatic fundamentalism. In that context, his views on women come as no surprise. Speaking to Salaam newspaper on May 11, 1997, just days before his election, Khatami declared: "One of the West’s biggest mistakes was the emancipation of women, which destroyed the family... Staying at home does not mean being pushed to the sidelines... We must not think that social activity means working outside the home. Housekeeping is among the most important of tasks."

Tehran women



Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khatami’s predecessor, who currently heads the powerful Council to Determine State Exigencies, is on record as declaring unequivocally that women are inferior and must be treated differently under the law: "Justice does not mean that all laws must be the same for men and women... The difference in the 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... Men incline toward reasoning and rationalism while women basically tend to be emotional. These differences affect the delegation of responsibilities, duties and rights."

Mullah Mohammad Yazdi, the Head of the Judiciary, also emphasizes the subservience of women: "If kneeling before God were not obligatory, wives should have knelt before their husbands." He also said: "A woman is wholly the possession of her husband, and her public life is conditional upon her husband’s consent."

These blatantly prejudiced views shed light on how discriminatory legislation against women has been proposed, adopted, and enforced in Iran since 1979. All the existing laws in Iran, which deal with the rights of women, arise from the stereotyped presumption that men are endowed with the right to dominate women. A man can divorce his wife freely and has the right to retain custody of their children. Article 105 of the Civil Code stipulates: "In the relationship between husband and wife, heading the family is characteristic of the husband." The Islamic Council of Guardians decreed that "a woman does not have the right to leave her home without her husband’s permission, even to attend her father’s funeral."

Morality Police, Tehran



There are inequalities in punishments for similar crimes. While in most cases harsher punishments are issued for women, their credibility as witnesses and inheritance rights are half those of men. Article 115 of the Constitution specifically excludes women from the presidency. The law also excludes them from appointment to judgeships. Yazdi, the Head of the Judiciary, commented on December 15, 1986: "No matter at what stage of knowledge, virtue, perfection, and prudence a woman is, she does not have the right to rule... Even if a righteous accredited woman possesses all qualifications, she cannot assume a leadership position nor can she pass judgment, because she is a woman." In the words of another Iranian official, women are "immature" and need "guardians."

The fundamentalists look at the world and the hereafter through sex-tinted glasses. Throughout history, they have fabricated their own fantasies and moral lessons and attributed them to the Prophet Mohammad. I wish to emphasize that I address these issues as a Muslim woman. In my view, fundamentalism clearly runs counter to Islamic thinking. There is no Quranic justification whatsoever for denying women the right to lead, to rule or to judge. On the contrary, Islam and the Quran hold men and women equally responsible before God. Thus, their equality in leadership and social responsibility is also stressed on various occasions.

Contrary to all of Khatami’s attempts to put a positive spin on the mullahs’ misogynist treatment of women for international consumption, his cabinet does not include even one woman. The appointment of a woman, Massoumeh Ebtekar, as deputy for environmental protection, was supposed to reflect "moderation" and Khatami’s attention to women’s rights. But this woman vice president is no "moderate," and is notorious as a staunch advocate of suppressing women’s rights. As a Spokesperson for the hostage-takers who captured the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, she once told an ABC Television correspondent that she was personally willing to take a gun and kill the hostages. (The New York Times, January 28, 1998). In an interview with Die Tageszeitung on October 18, Ebtekar defended discrimination against women and medieval punishments, like stoning. In response to a question on stoning to death, Ebtekar said: "One should take the psychological and legal affairs of the society into consideration as well. If family rules and regulations are broken, it would result in many complex, grave consequences for all of the society."

Roxana Saberi and Hilary Clinton

In response to a question about revoking laws such as the one stipulating that women need their husbands’ written permission to travel, she replied: "Man is responsible for the financial affairs of the family and for seeing that members of the family are not harmed. Thus, a woman needs her husband’s permission to make a trip. Otherwise, due to problems that would arise, a rift would come between them."

Actually, it is this distorted, misogynous interpretation of Islam that provides the Iranian law and government with the basis for its sermonizing on the inferiority and subservience of women, encouraging more violence against them. As head of the Revolutionary Cultural Council, Khatami officially refused to commit the regime to the international convention banning discrimination against women – the United Nations Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Not surprisingly, the plight of women has not improved since he took office, despite the barrage of propaganda purporting otherwise. Official statistics released on July 4 indicate that the dropout rate for girls in rural districts is 90 percent. During the 1995-96 school year, 54,829 girls left school before graduating, 65 percent of whom were from the country.

Abrar newspaper reported that women living in urban areas make up just 9.5 percent of the workforce; in rural areas this pitiful figure drops to 8.8 percent. In an international study comparing the workforce conditions for women around the world, Iran was rated 108th out of a field of 110. Khatami’s advisor on women’s affairs, Zahra Shoja’i, acknowledged in remarks reported by Islamic Republic News Agency on May 8 that even highly qualified women are discriminated against in employment in government offices: "Some officials are of the opinion that men have more of a role in running the family, so they favor the men." In the same conversation, Shoja’i referred to the chador as "the superior national dress of the women of Iran."

Iranian woman dressed according to dress code. Buy Western Barbie dolls.

New legislation to segregate health care, currently under consideration in the parliament, underscores the misogynist outlook of the mullahs. The plan, which Iranian medical professionals are doing their best to fight, will limit Iran’s women even further from health care facilities. On April 11, 1998 prior to this latest controversy, Revolutionary Guards and agents from the Intelligence Ministry attacked a gathering of 1,800 protesting physicians in Tehran. A group of the professionals, including a number of women doctors, were beaten and dragged off to unknown locations.

Reports from inside Iran reveal that the mullahs’ regime has also intensified its attacks on the population, particularly against women and youths, and harassment in the streets by the so-called "Hezbollahi" (Party of God) mercenaries is on the rise. Agence France Presse reported on November 30, 1997 that "Iranian security forces arrested a large number of women for improper veiling or attire that was not compatible with Islamic regulations." The AFP correspondent witnessed police
forcing many young women into patrol cars in northern Tehran. About ten young women, some of whom were wearing colorful head scarves and light make-up, were witnessed in a police vehicle in Vanak’s shopping mall.

Such incidents shed light on the circumstances of girls and women in Iran. Even a brief glance reveals the catastrophic consequences of their abuse and exploitation at the hands of the fundamentalists.

Sale of Girl Children

Girl children suffer the worst conditions in Iran today. According to the clerical regime’s rules and regulations, a girl child can virtually be bought and sold with the consent of her male guardian. Article 1041 of the Civil Code provides that ‘Marriage before puberty (nine full lunar years for girls) is prohibited. Marriage contracted before reaching puberty with the permission of the guardian is valid provided that the interests of the ward are duly observed."

It has become common practice to sell or force very young girls to marry much older husbands, giving rise to all sorts of social ills. Adineh magazine wrote in summer 1991: "An 11-year-old girl was married off to a 27-year-old man. The father, who had seven daughters, received $300 for his consent. The morning after the marriage ceremonies, the girl was taken to hospital suffering from severe lacerations to her genitals."

Making money for a living

The state-controlled daily, Ressalat, reported on December 15, 1991, that due to extreme poverty and the absence of the most basic facilities, the deprived people of northern Khorassan sell their young girls for as little as $33. The buyers, mostly from Gonabad, take the girls away and put them to work on farms and in workshops. In the impoverished province of Sistan-Baluchistan (southeastern Iran), girls eight - ten years old are sold by their drug-addicted parents for $4. Children are routinely abused in the labor force, and girls as young as four are used in the brick manufacturing, carpet weaving, textile and clothing industries.

According to the penal code, a nine-year-old girl can be punished as an adult by flogging, execution and even stoning. Given the arbitrary punishments and the virtual lack of due process of law, large numbers of children have been executed, in many cases without being officially charged or even having their identities established.

Rape of Female Prisoners

In a report on November 22, 1994, the United Nations Special Rapportuer on violence against women said "the public stoning and lashing of women serves to institutionalize violence against women. The Special Rapportuer has received many allegations of such violent punishments being inflicted on women in the Islamic Republic of Iran."

According to a special "religious decree" issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, virgin women prisoners must be raped before execution to prevent their going to heaven. A Guard conducts the rape the night before their murder. The next day, the religious judge at the prison issues a marriage certificate and sends it to the victim’s family, along with a box of sweets.

Tens of thousands of women have been subjected to cruel torture and execution. One method is particularly revealing: the Revolutionary Guards fire a single bullet into the womb of women political prisoners, leaving them to bleed to death in a slow process of excruciating pain. Even pregnant women are not spared, and hundreds have been executed with their unborn children. Many defenseless women prisoners are held in what are euphemistically referred to as "residential quarters" in prisons, where the Guards systematically rape them in order to totally destroy them.

In an eyewitness report, Amnesty International revealed how the small children of many young women in Evin Prison are viciously abused. Witness Helmut Szimkus, a German engineer, told Amnesty International they are kept "because they are an asset to the prison authorities for gaining confessions." Szimkus, who was released after serving a lengthy sentence in an Iranian prison, said he witnessed several cases where Iranian children were tortured in the presence of their parents. "One time these guys [torturers] raped a nine-year-old girl. The parents had to watch. The father shook and rattled so badly that he could no longer sign the espionage confession they put before him."

Hila Sedighi



Rampant Prostitution

The social environment imbedded in the misogynous views, laws and policies of the fundamentalist regime naturally spawns corruption, making it increasingly difficult for women to survive. Women bear the brunt of the economic difficulties and social barriers and restrictions. Large numbers of deprived women have been forced into prostitution or become addicted to drugs. Meanwhile, the clerical regime, touting Islam, claims to accord "divine respect" to women.

"It is appalling. Never has prostitution been so rampant. But everything is done behind the veil," Mahin, a 47-year old female Iranian jurist purged by the mullahs, told Helen Kami, the French journalist for Elle magazine who visited Iran in January 1997. Kami writes: "Prostitutes regularly roam Gandhi Street in north Tehran. At 5 p.m., we go to Istanbuli Street, also in north Tehran. The cab drivers, looking for wealthy or foreign patrons, are driving slowly. In exchange for only $1 (500 Tomans), they can provide you with girls, alcoholic beverages, heroin and hashish."

Many more of the social consequences of the mullahs’ rule date back to the destructive, meaningless Iran-Iraq war, dragged on by Khomeini’s regime for eight years. In this case, too, women and children suffered most. Since it was very difficult for a widow to provide for herself and raise a family in Iran’s highly patriarchal society, multitudes turned to prostitution as the only means of survival. According to the Associated Press of July 21, 1989, the arrest of a war widow for prostitution touched off a national scandal, because the woman had prostituted herself as a last resort to feed her family.

Ressalat, a state-controlled newspaper, reported on July 3, 1991: "Three large brothels were discovered and shut down in Tehran in the past month alone. Thirty-eight women were arrested. Most of the arrested women said during interrogation that they had turned to prostitution as a result of poverty."

Unemployment and skyrocketing prices make it impossible for millions of Iranians to get married and raise a family. At a seminar on the difficulties of getting married, Ayatollah Haeri Shirazi proposed in January 1997 that authorities promote an unofficial, temporary marriage called sigheh, that can last less than 24 hours and be repeated as many times as desired. This form of exploitation of women has become very widespread, and legitimizes sexual relations with very young girls. Quoting Mahin, the Iranian jurist, the Elle magazine reporter wrote in January 1997 about the life of a 9-year-old girl whose destitute parents arranged for her to be a sigheh. The man visits his temporary "wife" every weekend at her father’s house, for which privilege he pays her father about $12 per visit.

Not surprisingly, AIDS is spreading in Iran at an alarming rate. Despite the serious health and social problems this poses, little is being done to address the crisis.

Drugs and prostetution in Iran



Stoning in Iran: A Medieval Atrocity Conducted In Modern Times

The desperate women forced into prostitution, as a direct result of the regime’s policies, have to endure very harsh punishments, including public flogging and death by stoning. In one case, a religious judge convicted 17 members of an alleged prostitution ring. Among them were 14 brothers and sisters from a single family. Ten women and one man were stoned to death, two women and another man were hanged.

At least seven individuals have been stoned to death in public since Khatami’s election. On August 12, Agence France Presse reported that a 20-year-old woman who had been stoned "came to life" in the hospital morgue. The unidentified woman had been condemned to stoning by Boukan’s Islamic court. After the verdict of stoning to death was carried out, the coroner confirmed her death, but she began to breathe at the morgue.

The penalty for fornication, under articles 100 and 102 of the penal code, is only flogging for the unmarried male offender, but stoning to death for the unmarried female offender. Adulterers may be stoned to death, irrespective of their gender, but a man is buried up to his waist, and a woman up to her neck. Article 119 stipulates that the stones should not be so large as to kill the victim quickly, nor too small to cause severe injury.

Stoning women Iran



Surging Suicide

Caught in a vicious cycle of social humiliation and coercion, economic dependence, family insecurity, fear for their children’s lives as well as their own, shame, lack of confidence, daily harassment for "improper veiling," insults, and sexual abuse, Iranian women lead a bleak life. Feelings of despair and helplessness cast dark shadows over the lives of many, giving rise to a growing trend of suicide. A study in 1992 showed that twice as many women commit suicide as men.

Another study in 1993 stated, "lower class women complain that the major problem is feeding their family... The problem is somewhat different for middle-class women. Psychologists say the reason for suicides of most women in this class is deprivation of individual freedoms. Lack of jobs or financial support for widows is the next reason for suicide. Iranian widows or divorcees have no source of income. When society doesn’t provide employment opportunities, such women must remarry, turn to prostitution or commit suicide."

A confidential report to the regime’s parliament on September 2, 1992, said the sudden surge in the rate of suicide among women across Iran was due in part to the pressures exerted on the wives of Revolutionary Guards and soldiers who had served in the Iran-Iraq war, who suffer from psychological disorders. The report pointed out that the most severely affected men were those who spent time at the front when they were teenagers, where they had killed or captured scores of people or witnessed sexual intercourse with animals. Many women suicides pointed to the psychological imbalance of their husbands as the sole reason for their decision to kill themselves.

The report added that girl children as young as ten, instead of spending their days playing with other children, were being forced to marry men three to four times their age. Meanwhile as "married women," they are banned from attending school. Zan-e-Rouz, a woman’s magazine, wrote on Feb. 26, 1994, that a 14-year-old high school girl died after setting herself on fire to avoid marrying a 42-year-old man. Reuters reported on July 12, 1994, that "A 14-year-old Iranian girl, set to wed a man of 50 in an arranged marriage, burned herself to death."

Women in Leadership: Key to Change

What can be done to change this cycle of misery, humiliation and suffering for women in Iran and elsewhere? What is the greatest problem for women, the great deprivation, which overshadows the rest?

The systems based on gender discrimination strip women of their dignity and most elementary rights; therefore, women should direct their energies at eradicating such values and consequent systems. If the phenomenon of fundamentalism is to be uprooted, women must be involved. Today, the grave responsibility of forming a united international front against fundamentalism must be bestowed upon women. This is their historic mandate, because they have the most at stake.

This is a lesson learned through the blood, sweat and tears of the women of the Iranian Resistance. Just as misogyny is the driving force of Khomeini-style fundamentalism, Iranian women have become the driving force of the Resistance against the religious, terrorist dictatorship of the mullahs. Today, after more than a decade and a half of resistance, Iran’s women have taken on the responsibilities of leadership at the highest levels, thanks to the efforts of Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance’s President-elect.

Iran poor woman talks of suicide



As Mrs. Rajavi emphasizes, before all else, women must prepare the ground for uprooting gender oppression by engaging in political and social activism. Along the same lines, women must take on the responsibilities of political and social leadership. In the movement for equality, at least 50 percent of the positions of responsibility must be occupied by women. Fifty percent of the members of the Iranian Resistance’s parliament are women. The general command of the National Liberation Army of Iran, the Resistance’s military arm, an all-volunteer, modern armored army, is essentially made up of women. The leadership council of the People’s Mojahedin, the pivotal organization in the movement, consists entirely of women.

Some might think that such leadership is the last stage of equality. I contend, however, that it is a cornerstone to equality. But the leadership of women can only be achieved by intertwining the movement for equality with a pervasive progressive political movement. Nothing can be achieved by a women versus men confrontation.

It should be also underscored that "women’s rights are human rights." These rights encompass all the individual and social freedoms cited in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, according to which women are the masters of their own bodies and feelings.

In a word, women’s activism is the most effective means of fighting fundamentalism. Women must be included in decision-making and political power so that they can implement their will and play their role as leaders of society.

Iranian Lioness



AuthorsSarvnaz Chitsaz is currently the chairwoman of the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s Committe on Women. Prior to her appointment, she was the NCR’s U.S. Representative.