Women in Iran  January 2005

Azam Kamguian 

In this issue:

The Islamic Republic has temporarily stayed the execution by stoning of a woman convicted of adultery while her case is studied by the judiciary pardons commission.

Hajieh Esmailvand, whose plight has been taken up by womens rights groups and Amnesty International, was sentenced by a court in the north western town of Jolfa to be flogged 100 times, jailed for five years and then hanged. Although the exact date of Esmailvand's arrest and trial are not known, it is reported that she has been imprisoned in Jolfa since January 2000.

The man with whom Hajieh had the affair, who was 17 at the time, has been sentenced to death by hanging.

The Supreme Court later changed her sentence to stoning because of the adultery, as is permitted under Islamic law.

Islamic Republic Regime has confessed to at least to two recent cases of stoning in Iran. It is necessary to point out that under International and the European Parliament pressure, Iran had declared the ban on stoning. But the confession of Jamal Kareemee a responsible member of the judicial system to at least two cases of stoning shows that Islamic regime only publicly has stopped this act but continues to execute this criminal act covertly.

Please pay attention to the following report from ELNA, the Iranian news agency in Iran:

Based on ELNA's report, Jamal Kareemee in his weekly media conference in response to a question from a reporter said "even though, the judicial chief had suspended the stoning sentencing, but we recently witnessed carrying out two cases of stoning". He also added that achieving a final result on the stoning files that we have in the country is difficult. I have heard of a report but proving these accusations is hard since practically we have not witnessed execution of such sentences.

With an international campaign Islamic regime must be exposed. Protests against these savage sentencing must be organized in Iran and abroad. We must not let these criminals take human lives with such savagery. This Islamic sentencing must stop now.

Cruel and inhuman punishments continue in Iran. The Islamic republic has confirmed that a court has sentenced a young woman to death for prostitution but denied that she is mentally disabled.

Leyla Mafi was sentenced more than a year ago at a court in Arak after being found guilty of having illegal sex. Human rights group monitoring the case said Ms Mafi had a mental age of eight, but this has been disputed by Islamic judicial officials. The decision is now under review by the Iranian Supreme Court.

Leyla Mafi's case was given international exposure last week by women and human rights groups in Europe. They said Iran was breaking its commitments as a party to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights - which include a promise not execute anyone under the age of 18.

Women rights organisations said the woman's mother had forced her into prostitution at the age of eight. It has also been said she had been repeatedly raped and had given birth to a baby at the age of nine.

Islamic officials have rejected some of the group's findings. They say Leyla Mafi is mentally and physically normal and had only been working as a prostitute as an adult.

Under Islamic law, girls over the age of nine and boys over 16 face the death penalty for crimes such as rape and murder.

Please sign the follwing pettition and demand the immidiate release of Leyla

We the undersigned are tremendously grieved that 19-year-old Leila after suffering so much poverty and unjust persecution through out her childhood has been sentenced to execution by the Islamic courts in Iran.

Leila at the age of 8 was sold into Sigheh (a temporary marriage under Islamic law between man and woman for a price given to the woman or her family. These marriages last any where from 1 hour to years.) to a man old enough to be her father. For her Sigheh, her family only received enough money to cover one days meals. No body heard the cries of pain and anguish of this little child as she was raped and her life was ruined under the pretense of Islamic law!

She was nine when she became pregnant and was condemned by an Islamic judge to one hundred lashes from a whip for a crime committed against her. Once again no one heeded to her cries for help! Once she was 12 her poverty-stricken family sold her again under the law of Sigheh. Her new owner (husband) began prostituting her body at once. She was 14 when she became pregnant again and was once again condemned bay Islamic judge to one hundred lashes for unwillingly being involved in prostitution. The very last time this desolate child was sold to a 55 year old man whom also prostituted her for his own benefit.

Now the Islamic regime has issued her execution order. While condemning this crime against this child, Leila, we demand her immediate release. We advocate that those (civilians and government and courtroom officials) who were in any shape or way involved in: the acts of Sigheh, raping a helpless nine year old child, putting her in prostitution and prison, whipping her for the crimes committed against her and condemning her to death should be publicly associated with the crimes committed and brought to justice in an international court where they will be prosecuted for such horrendous offenses towards humanity

Click here to sign petition

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/708843201?110331852 

According to a report by state-run news agency ILNA, Eshrat Shayegh, the female parliamentary member of Tabriz, made an assertion about the rising rate of runaway girls and homeless women in the streets, an issue known as street women. She suggested: if any judge argues we have no laws to deal with these women, I offer a solution myself. She added: If we execute 10 of these street women, we will no longer face this issue. She emphasized, Women have no value without their families.

Eshrat Shayeghs comment sparked such an outrage among womens organizations inside and outside of Iran that she was forced to rephrase her statement while blaming the press for misquoting her.