Subject: [fem-women2000 426] Please Read and Forward
From: AIWUSA <aiwusa@aiwusa.org>
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 18:50:18 -0400
Seq: 426
Association of IranianWomanU.S.A(AIWUS) P.O BOX 1192 HERNDON, VA 20172 Tel: (703) 941-8584 Contact Person: Behjat Dehghan E-mail:aiwusa@aiwusa.org Homepage: http://www.aiwusa.org Iranian Women Brief # 25 July 2000 INFLUENTIAL CLERIC OPPOSES UN DOCUMENT ON WOMEN, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, JUNE 24,2000 TEHRAN - An influential cleric has denounced Iran's ratification of a UN document that encourages more education for girls and condemns violence against women. "I say it very clearly that it is religiously forbidden to adhere to these documents," Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi told the Saturday edition of Yalessarat, a conservative weekly. The cleric believes the decisions made by the women's rights conference earlier this month in New York are "incompatible with Islam." *************************************************** Amnesty International Annual Report 2000 "The Special Representative of the UN Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran continued to be denied access to the country during the year. A resolution adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights in April expressed concern at continuing human rights violations in Iran and "the apparent absence of respect for internationally recognized legal safeguards". Flogging and amputation Amnesty International recorded 26 cases of flogging and 16 cases of amputation, although the true number may have been considerably higher. Two women, identified only as Jamileh and Zahra, were convicted of theft and murder by a Tehran court in February and sentenced to the amputation of a hand. Jamileh was also sentenced to death by hanging and Zahra to 15 months' imprisonment" *************************************************** Woman Gets Death Penalty for killing Ex-husband Iran - Saturday, 24 June 2000 - Agence France Presse TEHRAN, June 24 (AFP) - Iran's Supreme Court Saturday upheld a lower Court's execution order for women convicted murdering her ex-husband after he beat the couple's children, the Tehran press reported. Soussan Hajirian, 42 years old, was Found guilty of the 1996 murder of her ex-husband, with a solid cooking dish following a violent altercation. According to press reports, Hajirian said that she and her ex-husband were living together while awaiting a final divorce decree. "But on the night of the incident he beat the children and kicked me out. I then hit him," she said. The death penalty was initially handed down by Iran's Court of Appeal and was reaffirmed Saturday by the Supreme Court. **************************************************** Geneva Abdo in Tehran Tuesday June 20, 2000 Maryam took one hard first-person look at life as a woman in Iran and made a decision: "she" wanted out. Born Mehran, the 25-year-old Iranian, then a man, had earlier swept aside strong parental objections and undergone a sex change operation last year. But in female form, Maryam soon found it impossible to cope with the constraints imposed by the Islamic republic - so impossible that she now wants to reverse the operation. "I cannot go on living with the new identity, after years of living as a man with no restrictions," she told the daily newspaper Iran. "At first, I thought I would get used to it, but life has become painful and intolerable. So I want a new sex change." No one ever said life, as an Iranian woman would be easy. The country's social and legal codes severely limit women's choices. Most move from the authority of their fathers and brothers to that of a husband, so have little or no experience of life on their own. They also face personal restrictions and taboos that implicitly prevent them renting apartments on their own or travelling overseas without first getting the consent of a male relative. State health officials report that between the sexes, it is the women who have the higher suicide rate, with the highest figures being registered in the holy MuslimShi'ite city of Qom, Iran's center of religious learning. Some of the more superficial restrictions on women's dress and conduct have been eased. The enforcement of veiling is more relaxed, particularly in the capital, Tehran. But on substantive issues involving legal and social rights, much more remains to be done. Sex change operations are legal in socially conservative Iran, although formal permission from the coroner's office is required before the surgery can take place. Critics of the system say conservative mores prevent candidates for such radical operations from testing out their new sexual identity first, as is often the case elsewhere. The only option for someone who changes her mind, like Maryam, is to undergo a second operation. In the legal system, a woman's testimony is given half the weight of that of a man, while inheritance, divorce and child custody laws all favor men. For example, a boy as young as two and a girl as young as seven are automatically awarded to the father if a couple divorces, a fact that keeps some women in abusive or dangerous marriages. ************************************************************************ Iran censors leading French publications for "pornography" Iran - Friday, 16 June 2000 - Agence France Presse The Iranian authorities have censored copies of the French newspaper Le Monde and the magazine L'Express over the past few weeks after judging reproductions of some French artwork pornographic. In the June 7 issue of L'Express, the Iranians censored pictures of sculptures by Aristide Maillot and paintings by Henri Matisse that portrayed the model Dina Vierny. In Le Monde, which rarely carries photos, Iranian authorities cut out pictures of the Rio carnival and reproductions of paintings by Paul Gauguin. Iranian authorities recently removed a picture of Margaret Thatcher in the French newspaper Le Figaro, finding the former British Prime Minister's dress too low-cut. And Eugene Delacroix's painting "Liberty Guiding the People," which features the French Revolution icon in a Phrygian cap but with her breasts bare, was torn out by a censor from the magazine of the French teachers' union. Iranian publications have to follow a strict Islamic code on portrayal of the female image. Iranian women cannot appear without their headscarves, although some foreign women, including artists, actresses and athletes, have been shown with their heads bare=8a _________________________________________________________________________ fem-Women2000@jca.apc.org for Women 2000, UN Special Session on Beijing+5 Searcheable Archive http://www.jca.apc.org/fem/news/women2000/index.shtml visit fem-net HomePage for other mailing lists http://www.jca.apc.org/fem