CRIME AND IMPUNITY Sexual Torture of Women in Islamic Republic Prisons Part 1: 1980s Crime and Impunity Sexual Torture of Women in Islamic Republic Prisons Part 1: 1980s First Edition Copyright © Justice For Iran 2012 All rights reserved. Part of this book may be quoted or used as long as the authors and publisher are acknowledged. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes without prior written permis- sion from the copyright owner. Published by: Justice For Iran [email protected] www.justiceforiran.org Page layout: Aida Book - Germany By Shadi Sadr and Shadi Amin Justice For Iran ISBN 978-3-944191-90-4 About Justice For Iran (JFI) ‘Justice For Iran’ was established in July 2010 with the aim of addressing the crime and impunity prevalent among Iranian state officials and their use of systematic sexual abuse of women as a method of torture in order to extract confession. JFI uses methods such as documentation of human rights violations, col- lecting information, and research about authority figures who play a role in serious and widespread violation of human rights in Iran; as well as use of judicial, political and international mechanisms in place, to execute justice, remove impunity and bring about accountability to the actors and agents of human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran. About the Authors Shadi Sadr is the director of Justice For Iran. She is an Iranian lawyer, human rights defender and journalist. She received her law degree and later her LLM in international law form Tehran University. She has performed research on women’s right in Iran, particularly in the areas of family law, hijab and women’s rights movements. Shadi Sadr is the founder and direc- tor of Raahi, a legal centre for women. Iranian authorities closed down Raahi in 2007 during a wave of repression against civil society. She was arrested and imprisoned in Iran in 2007 and 2009. Shadi Sadr has touched the lives of many women through her work and her support for campaigns such as the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign. She has received several awards such as Ida B. Wells award for bravery in journalism, the Alexander Prize of the Law School of Santa Clara University and the Human Rights Defenders Tulip. Shadi Amin is an Iranian feminist and lesbian activist who was forced to leave Iran in the 1980s because of her political activities and is now living in exile in Germany. She has researched gender discrimination, systematic oppression against women and the state of homosexuals in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Her selection and translation of Adrian Rich and Audrie Laurd’s articles were published in a book entitled Ghodrat va Lazzat (Power and Joy) which is one of the few Farsi resources on compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence. She is a founder of the Iranian Women’s Network Association (Shabakeh) and is currently one of the co- ordinators of the Iranian lesbians Platform (6RANG). She joined Justice For Iran as the ‘Crime without Punishment’ research project manager. Table of Contents Acknowledgments 7 Executive Summary 9 Introduction 13 I- Women’s Political Activities after the Revolution of 1979: A Historical Review 37 II- Raping of Virgin Girls before Execution 61 III- Prison Marriages 95 IV- Rape of Prisoners 113 V- Other Widespread Forms of Sexual Harassment 133 VI- Pregnancy, Birth and Motherhood in Prison 169 Conclusion: A First Step to Address Sexual Torture in Iran 191 Appendices Appendix I: Witness Testimonies 199 Appendix II: Case Studies 253 Appendix III: Details of the Interviewees 271 Glossary 275 References 281 Index 287 Acknowledgments We are grateful to the many political prisoners of 1980s who agreed to be interviewed and who shared their painful experiences with us. Without doubt, they were the ones who taught us how to view this part of the his- tory of Iranian women; the history of resistance, failure and victory. Many people were involved in this project- ranging from workshop participants, to colleagues, volunteers, relatives of the women political prisoners who are no longer alive. We are unable to name everyone, but we are incredibly grateful for all their input and support for this work. Our deepest gratitude goes to Homa Shadi who, without her passionate advice and her tireless assistance, the English version of this work would not have been ready. We would also like to acknowledge the important contributions of some of the former political prisoners who without any hesitation shared their vast network and valuable information with us, especially Monireh Barada- ran, Mehri Elghaspour, Mojdeh Arasi, Soudabeh Ardavan, Mona Roshan, Golrokh Jahangiri, Shokat Mohammadi and Iraj Mesdaghi. We would like to express our appreciation to Dr. Nouriman Ghahary for providing her indispensible advice to us throughout this project. We are also indebted to Professor Yakin Erturk and Professor Payam Akhavan, the Justice For Iran advisory board members as well as Gissou Nia, who read the whole report and made valuable legal and theoretical suggestions. We would like to appreciate the courage of our colleagues inside Iran who we are not able to mention by name because of the security reasons. We would like also to acknowledge our colleagues, Leila Moeini, Raha Bahreini, Leila Nabavi and Goli Far. We are especially thankful to Rima Attar, Amanda Matijevic and Tahirih Danesh who spent a lot of time editing the English version of this work which was originally produced in Farsi. We also appreciate the Hu- man Rights Defenders Tulip and Hivos for the financial support they pro- vided for Justice For Iran to work on the ‘Crime without Punishment’ pro- ject. This acknowledgment cannot be completed without thanking Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML), which supported us by hosting the project. Executive Summary Throughout the 1980s in Iran, thousands of individuals were arrested and detained for supposedly supporting or participating in oppositional political organizations that were critical of the Islamic Republic regime’s undemocratic practices. So far, many reputable reports have been pub- lished detailing the various torture methods inflicted upon the political prisoners in that decade.1 However, despite anecdotal evidence on sexual abuses in the prisons of Iran, the topic has not yet been subject to system- atic study. This report based on the first phase of the research project, ‘Crimes without Punishment’, aims to document the cases of rape and other forms of sexual torture used against female political prisoners in the 1980s. The second report will cover the subsequent period between 1990s- 2009, and the third will cover events following the 2009 elections. Our goal in conducting this research and preparing these reports is to launch a public discourse on this subject, which has haunted many wom- en’s lives and has discouraged thousands of others from entering public politics for fear of being raped in the infamous prisons of Iran. Indeed the issue of rape in prisons has been known throughout Iran, but never dis- cussed seriously in public due to extreme cultural taboos on the topic. This taboo and prevalent perceptions of shame and (dis)honor in Iran has meant that open discussion of rape or torture is perceived to negatively impact not just the victims, but also their wider family and associates. As such, the state escapes responsibility and accountability for not only letting these atrocities happen, but for its role in actively promoting sexual torture as a tool for political control. We feel that unless these systematic occur- 1 For instance, see the report: “Iran, Election Contested, Repression Compounded”, Amnesty International, December 2009: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/123/2009/en/1e69a8fb-dcf1-4165-a7fc- a94369e364bf/mde131232009en.pdf, and “Violent Aftermath - The 2009 Election and Suppression of Dissent in Iran”, IHRDC, February 2010: http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/publications/reports/3161-violent-aftermath-the-2009-election-and- suppression-of-dissent-in-iran.html. 10 Crime and Impunity rences of rape atrocities against female political prisoners are documented and presented to the public, nationally and internationally, the culture of sexual violence against women by the state will continue, and worse, en- courage others to commit the same crimes without fear of punishment. This report aims to uncover the degree to which sexual torture of po- litical prisoners in the 1980s was widespread and systematic. The report is the result of an analysis of publically published records, as well as inter- views with 77 political prisoners detained during the 1980s and 18 in- formed individuals whom either because of the position they held or fami- ly connection held detailed information relevant to the research. Further- more, the report delves into how sexual torture against female prisoners was carried out, in what manner it was justified, and the goal the officials hoped to accomplish through inflicting the torture. Based on our findings, some of the various forms of sexual torture, such as the rape of virgin girls prior to their execution, were conducted in a systematic way and were based on the interpretation of an order by Ayatol- lah Khomeini (1979-1989), the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader at the time (quoted by Ayatollah Montazeri, his deputy of the time). In addition, various verses from the Koran and shari’a based fatwas were used to claim that women who were captured in battle with the kuffar (infidels) were akin to property and slaves of the army of Islam (a practice of the Middle Ages which had subsequently been accepted, at least theologically, as a part of Islamic war practices). That is to say the prison and judicial authorities were treated as the victorious army and female political prisoners as their slaves, not as citizens with different political perspectives.