Iran stoning case, Sakineh
Mohammadi Ashtiani, wrote an
open letter
asking the
media and public to ask Rouhani why he doesn’t
release her.
She says: “I want to hold my
children in my arms. Please
help me! For three years I
have been consumed by
longing for liberty and the
chance to breathe freely.
They told me that if I
collaborated on a film for
Press TV, I would be
released. Press TV made its
film and went on its way and
there was no more talk of my
freedom. They say that my
case is in Tehran and must
be decided there. I entreat
you to ask President Rouhani,
a resident of Tehran,
whether he has any news of
my case. Doesn’t he want to
free me so that I might
finally travel with my son
and embrace freedom once
more?”
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According to the
International Committee
Against Execution, since the
election of Hassan Rouhani,
at least 213 prisoners have
been
executed,
including a number of women.
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Per official
figures,
there are 600 women judges
in Iran, most of who work in
family courts. They are
however not allowed to sign
their decisions; a male
judge must do so on their
behalves.
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Ali Jannati, a senior cleric
in Iran
urged tougher
restrictions on women in
streets, universities and
state institutions. He said
the hijab of female students
should be checked at university
gates and students graded
based on their covering. He
said: "why is it that female
students who want to study
take off their Islamic dress
after they enter the
university and taint
themselves? Student wants a
good grade and will do
anything for it." "If her
veiling is bad, don’t let
her into the university and
let her feel it in her
grade. This is not
troublesome. Start here! If
you put someone at the
university gate and tells
students that if they don’t
observe proper veiling it
would affect their grades,
they would certainly pay
heed."
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According to one
report, over
seventy Allameh Tabatabaei
University students who had
been thrown out of their
faculties or suspended from
their departments gathered
outside the dean’s office
and demanded that he allow
them to return to their
courses. Also, a group of
women’s rights activists and
student activists filed an
official complaint with the
Iranian Supreme Court of
Justice. They were objecting
to a new plan which regards
women as ‘unfit’ for certain
courses, and prohibits some
of the major universities
from enrolling them. The
protestors made three
demands to the Science
Ministry and the Department
of Higher Educational
Assessment, namely the
withdrawal of the scheme,
the restoration of rights to
students affected by it, and
a ban on similar schemes in
the future.
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A recent
study found
school books to be
predominately male-oriented
with very few female photos,
characters and writers. Also
the males were shown to be
smarter, stronger, more
worthy than the females in
the texts.
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In a new
law on
families, temporary
marriages do not need to be
registered any longer.
Temporary marriage is a
fixed or short term marriage
permissible in Shia Islam
for which the duration and
compensation is decided in
advance.
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During the election
campaign, Rouhani said that
he would strive to ensure
that women feel secure on
the streets from patrol
harassing women who they
deem to be improperly or
badly veiled. He
said:
“Girls must maintain their
own chastity and hijab.” He
also said the youth “should
obey religious norms.” After
the election, harassment of
women and youth has been
stepped up.
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Mohammad Shahroudi Hosseini,
the Kurdistan representative
of the supreme leader
Khamenei has
said: “The
best way for women to
achieve happiness is to see
less of men and for men to
see less of women.”
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Women wearing leggings
called “supports” are being
put under pressure. Some
officials have
said leggings
lead to a “violation of the
mental and physiological
peace” of Iran’s youth and
are urging their arrest.
Niloofar, a student in
Tehran says: “If more than
ten women do something in
this country, it suddenly
becomes an offence and they
start looking for ways to
stop it.”
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The Iranian regime has freed
11 political prisoners,
including human rights
lawyer
Nasrin Sotoudeh
and 7 other women. Many
political prisoners remain
in jail.
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A
bill being
debated in Iran’s Majlis
aims to limit employment
opportunities for single
girls and childless married
women. Many see it is as yet
one more state ploy to keep
women in the home.
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Gholam Reza Hassanpour
Ashkezari who is in charge
of the National Merchants
Guild has
called on
merchants to refuse to sell
to badly veiled women and to
post religious teachings in
shops to advise badly veiled
women to properly veil.
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There has been an
increase in
Iran’s morality police
detaining women who they
deem are improperly veiled.
Mehr news agency quoted the
Iranian Police Chief
Brigadier General Esmail
Ahmadi-Moghaddam as saying
that the moral security plan
has not been halted and a
new phase has begun.
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Elham Asghari was
denied a
swimming record because her
Islamic bathing suit was
deemed too revealing and
showed her feminine
features. “I'm not going to
submit to bullying, and I
ask you not to submit
either,” she said. “I ask
you to give your utmost
effort to achieve your
goals. I won’t give up! I
beg you not to give up in
the face of their lies.
Swimming is not exclusively
for men. We ladies can do
well, too!
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During Hassan Rouhani’s
inauguration,
women journalists sat on the
floor whilst men were
seated.
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Official organs of the
Islamic regime, including an
organisation representing
the Supreme Leader in
Iranian Universities, have
refuted claims of rape prior
to execution for the first
time. In a recently
published book and
documentary, Justice for
Iran
demonstrate
once more the rape of virgin
girls who were executed for
their political activities
during the 1980s through the
means of temporary marriage
in at least a few cities as
part of an organised process
carried out with the
knowledge of senior
officials.
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Other News
Updates
Saudi Arabi
A new
campaign urging
Saudi Arabian women to hold a
“day of defiance”
against
the country’s driving ban is
underway. An online petition
entitled “Oct 26th, driving for
women”, had, at time of press,
amassed more than 11,000
signatures in just two days. A
Saudi sheikh has recently
said women’s
driving will affect the pelvis
and ovaries resulting in
children born with “clinical
disorders.” In the past the
highest religious council said
women driving would mean no more
virgins and an increase in
homosexuality.
When attorney for a raped Saudi
Arabian woman appealed a Sharia
Court decision of 90-lashes for
being raped and beaten by 7 men,
the court doubled the
punishment. The court also
said that the
"charges were proven" against
the woman for having been in a
car with a strange male, and
repeated criticism of her lawyer
for talking "defiantly" about
the judicial system, saying "it
has shown ignorance."
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Malaysia
KA Malaysian
Municipal Council
ordered hair
salon operators to take down
posters of women with
uncovered hair or risk
having their operation
licences revoked.
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Afghanestan
Afghan experts and advocates
say the
number of women and girls
fleeing intolerable domestic
conditions has skyrocketed,
keeping the handful of urban
shelters constantly full. In
addition, according to
Afghan human rights groups,
the number of girls and
women charged with moral
crimes (usually some
variation of zina, or sex
outside marriage) has
increased 50 percent in the
past several years. Nearly
400 are
imprisoned
for moral crimes.
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Tunisia
The Tunisian interior
minister has
called for a
stop to young Tunisian women
leaving for Syria on “sexual
jihad.” The Arabic term
(jihad al-nikah) describes a
phenomenon of women
traveling to the battlefield
to provide comfort—and
sexual favors—which
Islamists consider the
practice a legitimate
complement to Holy War.
“After the sexual liaisons
they have there in the name
of ‘jihad al-nikah,’ they
come home pregnant.”The
minister did not say how
many women have traveled to
Syria, though local media
reports have suggested
hundreds of women have done
so. He added that the
government has prevented
some 6,000 Tunisians from
traveling to Syria.
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Sudan
Amira Osman Hamed
says: faces
trial in the Sudan for
refusing to wear the hijab
and will be flogged if
convicted. She says she’s
prepared to be flogged to
defend the right to leave
her hair uncovered in
defiance of a “Taliban”-like
law. She says: I’m Sudanese.
I’m Muslim, and I’m not
going to cover my head.
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India
Sushmita Banerjee,
an Indian woman, who wrote a
popular memoir about her
escape from the Taliban, has
been shot dead in
Afghanistan by Islamists.
She was working as a health
worker and had been filming
the lives of local women as
part of her work. Police
said Taliban militants
arrived at her home in the
provincial capital, Kharana,
tied up her husband and
other members of the family,
took Ms Banerjee out and
shot her. They dumped her
body near a religious
school.
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Palestinian
The Supreme Religious Court
in the Hamas-controlled Gaza
Strip is
considering
legal amendments allowing
women to divorce their
husbands when they can show
proof that their married
life cannot go on.
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Yemen
An
eight year old child bride
died in Yemen
on her wedding night after
suffering internal injuries
due to sexual trauma. Human
rights organisations are
calling for the arrest of
her husband who was five
times her age. |
A 15-year-old girl who was
sentenced to 100 lashes
after being raped by her
step-father has had her
punishment
overturned by
a Maldives court after
international outrage.
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Indonesia
A
plan to make
female high school students
undergo mandatory virginity
tests has been met with
outrage from activists, who
argue that it discriminates
against women and violates
their human rights.
Education chief Muhammad Rasyid, of Prabumulih
district in south Sumatra
put forward the idea,
describing it as "an
accurate way to protect
children from prostitution
and free sex". "This is for
their own good," Rasyid
said. "Every woman has the
right to virginity … we
expect students not to
commit negative acts." The
test would require female
senior school students aged
16 to 19 to have their hymen
examined every year until
graduation. Boys, however,
would undergo no
investigation into whether
they had had sex.
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Pakistan
Two months ago, Arifa Bibi,
a young mother of two, was
stoned to
death by her relatives on
the order of a tribal court
in Pakistan for having a
mobile phone. She was buried
in a desert far from her
village. |