Copyright©2015 by Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. A publication of the Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran Correspondance address: B.P. 18, 95430 Auvers-sur-Oise, France. www.women.ncr-iran.org Email: [email protected] facebook.com/ NCRI Women's Committee twitter.com/ @ncri_women_comm Introduction Two years have passed since Rouhani took office in Iran. This report, is a look at the conditions of women during these two years, revealing two issues: on the one hand, the rise in suppression and pressures against women and on the other, the continuation of protests. In the month of October 2014, Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, was hanged for defending herself against an agent of the Iranian regime’s Intelligence Ministry, a man who intended to rape her. This was while many international bodies had called for her release and protested this execution. Reyhaneh’s body was left hanging from the noose for an hour after her death. Political prisoners have been the prime victims of human rights violations. Motahareh Bahrami, Reyhaneh Haj-Ibrahim, Zeynab Jalalian, Sedigheh Moradi and Fatima Rahnama have been deprived of medical treatment despite suffering from serious illnesses. The physical conditions of Atena Daemi and Atena Farghadani, both under pressure in prison, are unacceptable and they are imprisoned for defending their freedom of expression. Afsaneh Bayazidi and Atena Farghadani have resorted to hunger strikes to obtain their rights. Women such as Farideh Shahgoli, Zahra Ka’abi, Golrokh Ibrahimi Irayi, Nahid Gorji, Maryam Sadat Yahyavi and Manijeh Sadeqhi have been sent to jail for political and internet related activities. They add to the dozens of women arrested in rallies protesting acid attacks and other demonstrations. During Rouhani’s tenure many women have been suppressed and arrested for their beliefs and religion. At least 8 Baha’is, 5 Christians and 4 members of the ‘Erfan Halghe’ group have been arrested. 5 Baha’i students were deprived of continuing their education. During the crackdown on of Dervish’s gathering in September, women were attacked with batons and electric shockers, leading to many injuries and even fractured bones. As for social damages, during Rouhani’s tenure, women have topped two charts: “suffering from depression” and “cases self-immolation throughout the Middle East.” The state-run Tabnak website reported the latest numbers of cases of psychological disorders amongst women has reached 26% adding that women have an 11% higher depression rate compared to men. (State-run Tabnak website – June 22, 2015) The status quo for cases of self-immolation is similar. The state-run Payam website issued a report referring to the high number of self- immolation cases in Iran saying, “The number of self-immolation cases in Iran shows an increasing trend. Research indicates that Iran is ranked first in suicide rates amongst women throughout the Middle East.” (State-run Payam website – June 26, 2015) One of the main levers of crackdown used in Rouhani’s government against women are plans carried out to enforce compulsory veiling and restricting women in their right to choose what to wear. In this regard, in July 2015 a plan called “Protecting Hijab and Virtue” was prepared and generally ratified in the Culture and Legal Commission of the Iranian regime’s so-called parliament. Based on this 9-article plan, women considered having improper veiling will be confronted and they are obligated to pay a 1 million rial fine. Similar fines will be carried out for women with improper veiling in vehicles. Women working in administrative offices will also be fined by having their wages decreased. (State-run Tasnim news agency – July 21, 2015) (State-run Ana news agency – August 10, 2015) During Rouhani’s tenure, a devious phenomenon that has escalated is the crackdown and ostracizing of women in the society: 16-year-old girls are widows in Iran. (Khabar Farsi website – May 27, 2015) Divorce amongst children aged 10 to 14 is becoming more and more common. A senior official in the Iranian regime’s Social Security Organization said, “There are concerning numbers related to marriages amongst children under the legal age. We have around 25,000 divorced children between the ages of 10 to 14. These numbers show that mainly girls are given away under the official age of marriage.” (State- run ILNA news agency – June 22, 2015) Increasing number of single mothers and their ages decreasing to lower than 20 are some of the other problems that Iran’s society is facing. State-run Salamat News wrote in this regard, “4% of all single mothers in Iran are under the age of 20. This means around 8,973 women are in this age group. An advisor in women affairs says around 16,000 single mothers are under the age of 20; 14% are between the ages of 21 to 40; 12.5% are between 41 to 50 years of age; 17% are between 51 to 60 years of age; 20% are between 61 to 70 years of age; and 36% are over 71 years old. (State-run Salamat News – June 20, 2015) Unemployment and women being expelled from work or deprived of education are some of the other dilemmas increasing significantly for women during Rouhani’s tenure. Fatemeh Sadeghi, a university professor, provided the following statistics: “Each year around 100,000 women are expelled from the job market. 74,000 women are expelled from work after maternity leave, official numbers indicate. Therefore, one can say around 900,000 women have been expelled from work or become unemployed during this period.” Education for girls in Iran is literally catastrophic. Around 10% of women from the ages of 6 to 17 are deprived of education, meaning around 700 to 800 girls across Iran, official numbers show. 20% of women never even enter high-school. (State-run ISNA news agency – June 31, 2015) Furthermore, Shahindokht Molavardi, Hassan Rouhani’s vice president in women and family affairs on unemployment amongst women said, “Currently 82% of all single mothers across the country are unemployed.” Molavardi said the percentage and presence of women in management and political posts across Iran is under 3%. (State-run ISNA news agency – March 22, 2015) We can get a different image of Iran under Rouhani’s tenure if we add the catastrophic phenomenon known as pregnant homeless women to all these examples: The state-run Ariya News media outlet reported the horrific situation of pregnant women seen sleeping in the streets of Tehran, saying the number of such women in the Iranian capital is actually on the rise. There are 15,000 women sleeping in the streets of Tehran each night. (State-run Ariya News media outlet – May 30, 2015) The state-run Mehr news agency writes in this regard, “A university professor who spent a few nights with homeless people on the streets says infants are being sold even before they are born and while they are in the wombs of their homeless mothers sleeping on the streets! The Interior Ministry has reported 18 million people across Iran are living in unofficial residences.” (State-run Mehr news agency – August 22, 2015) With all these examples, being only a tip of the iceberg of Iran’s society, women have increased their protests especially in 2015 regarding the policies adopted by Rouhani’s government. Continuous protests staged by women nurses, teachers, physicians and relatives of prisoners behind bars are proof of this matter. Other examples included demonstrations against acid attacks on women, a demonstration staged outside Tehran’s prosecutor’s office protesting the arrest of various activists; a rally protesting the murder of Reyhani Jabbari and Farinaz Khosravi; another demonstration against pressures against civil and political prisoners; a rally staged by ‘Laleh Park Mothers’ in Tehran and a sit-in carried out by followers of the ‘Erfan Halghe’ group protesting the death sentence issued for their leader Mohammad Ali Taheri. These rallies are continuing to this day and “NO” is the common message expressed by Iranian women to the entirety of the regime ruling Iran. Systematic Violation of the right to life Execution and death sentences In the system under the mullahs’ misogynist rule, there is only one area that women are not discriminated from: torture and execution. Women are taken to the gallows for unproven crimes that even despite international calls to halt such injustice, the medieval judicial system of this regime never grants pardoning. Self-defense against rape and harassment is determined a crime. No case is based on international norms; one woman can be taken to the gallows while another will remain in prison for undetermined length of time. And finally, no one is spares. Nearly 60 women have been hanged during the two year tenure of Hassan Rouhani at the helm in Iran. Most were executed despite being deprived of the right to a lawyer, defense in court and a fair trial. The stages set by the Iranian regime to this day for the execution of women has been extremely shocking. The execution of a mother with her child simultaneously in one location is just one such example. Also, a 60-year old woman, hanged and seen fighting for her life for a few minutes, was brought down for a repeat of the execution. If we add the innocent face of Reyhaneh Jabbari to these cases – as she was executed for the ‘crime’ of defending herself against the aggression of a Ministry of Intelligence agent – we will get a better picture of the crimes taking place against Iranian women under Rouhani’s watch.