1 times ægteskab i Iran - officiel politik
The silent screams of women and girls
By LILY MAZAHERY
Lately, I have developed a new hobby: I spend hours at my computer, poring over page after page of Farsi weblogs. I have been pleasantly surprised to discover that just about every intellectual, activist and women's rights advocate in Iran, including lawyers and journalists, keeps extensive weblogs, filled with useful information, opinions and social commentary - the kind of information that is woefully absent from official publications in Iran; the kind of information that the Islamic regime has masterfully, at times forcibly, eliminated from public view for almost three decades.
Within this newfound treasure trove, I have traveled to the depths of human suffering. I have witnessed the tears of mothers, the loneliness of daughters, and the hopelessness of fathers and brothers. I have felt the crushing weight of their silence. And in my mind, I have painted portraits of the authors who have so generously opened their hearts, minds and computers to the outside world and to those of us who share with them a common heritage, yet enjoy uncommon freedoms.
I have been surprised to read detailed accounts of torture, executions, beatings and prisoner abuse. I have become all too familiar with the pain of the families whose daughters are sentenced to death for acts they never committed, or acts that are the natural right of every human to commit.
I have learned that by replacing a once progressive legal system with Sharia doctrine, the Islamic regime has systematically oppressed, marginalized and dehumanized one half of its own citizens. Under this draconian system, Iranian women have lost their inheritance rights, as well as custodial rights to their own children. They are required to secure the express approval of their husbands or male guardians to obtain passports and to travel. Under Sharia law, a woman's testimony in court is, at best, worth half the testimony of her male counterpart.
Even more astonishing, Iran's new Islamic-guided government has established a system of legalized prostitution, through the practice of "sigheh" or "temporary marriages," by which a mullah arranges a "legal union" between a man and a girl (some as young as nine years old) for a fee. The so-called marriage can last anywhere from one hour to 99 years. Under this system, men are free to enter into as many temporary marriages as they so desire, without having any legal obligation or responsibility toward the women and children that they "marry" only to use as sexual objects and slaves.
Not surprisingly, this legalized system of slavery and oppression has led to a growing sex-trafficking industry that is partially operated by government officials and mullahs themselves. The girls who are forced into this system of sexual and economic slavery are typically transported to various countries in the Persian Gulf and are sold to individuals as well as to established brothels. The budding industry of sexual trafficking of Iranian girls has led to growing concerns about the spread of AIDS/HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases throughout the region.
TEMPORARY marriages are not the only method of institutionalized oppression of women and girls by the Islamic regime. Atefeh Rajabi was hanged in the city of Neka in the early hours of August 15, 2004. Her crime was officially declared to be "adultery," even though she had never married and was only 16 when the very judge who had condemned her to death served the added role of executioner by personally placing the noose around Atefeh's tiny neck and ordering her body to be raised. Unofficially, however, Atefeh's crime was defiance - defiance of the unnatural and unreasonable rules that were forced upon her by the Islamic government; defiance of her status as something less than human; defiance of the inequality, poverty and misogyny that have infested Iran in the past 27 years; and defiance of the binds designed to break the human spirit and destroy the essence of childhood.
By LILY MAZAHERY
Lately, I have developed a new hobby: I spend hours at my computer, poring over page after page of Farsi weblogs. I have been pleasantly surprised to discover that just about every intellectual, activist and women's rights advocate in Iran, including lawyers and journalists, keeps extensive weblogs, filled with useful information, opinions and social commentary - the kind of information that is woefully absent from official publications in Iran; the kind of information that the Islamic regime has masterfully, at times forcibly, eliminated from public view for almost three decades.
Within this newfound treasure trove, I have traveled to the depths of human suffering. I have witnessed the tears of mothers, the loneliness of daughters, and the hopelessness of fathers and brothers. I have felt the crushing weight of their silence. And in my mind, I have painted portraits of the authors who have so generously opened their hearts, minds and computers to the outside world and to those of us who share with them a common heritage, yet enjoy uncommon freedoms.
I have been surprised to read detailed accounts of torture, executions, beatings and prisoner abuse. I have become all too familiar with the pain of the families whose daughters are sentenced to death for acts they never committed, or acts that are the natural right of every human to commit.
I have learned that by replacing a once progressive legal system with Sharia doctrine, the Islamic regime has systematically oppressed, marginalized and dehumanized one half of its own citizens. Under this draconian system, Iranian women have lost their inheritance rights, as well as custodial rights to their own children. They are required to secure the express approval of their husbands or male guardians to obtain passports and to travel. Under Sharia law, a woman's testimony in court is, at best, worth half the testimony of her male counterpart.
Even more astonishing, Iran's new Islamic-guided government has established a system of legalized prostitution, through the practice of "sigheh" or "temporary marriages," by which a mullah arranges a "legal union" between a man and a girl (some as young as nine years old) for a fee. The so-called marriage can last anywhere from one hour to 99 years. Under this system, men are free to enter into as many temporary marriages as they so desire, without having any legal obligation or responsibility toward the women and children that they "marry" only to use as sexual objects and slaves.
Not surprisingly, this legalized system of slavery and oppression has led to a growing sex-trafficking industry that is partially operated by government officials and mullahs themselves. The girls who are forced into this system of sexual and economic slavery are typically transported to various countries in the Persian Gulf and are sold to individuals as well as to established brothels. The budding industry of sexual trafficking of Iranian girls has led to growing concerns about the spread of AIDS/HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases throughout the region.
TEMPORARY marriages are not the only method of institutionalized oppression of women and girls by the Islamic regime. Atefeh Rajabi was hanged in the city of Neka in the early hours of August 15, 2004. Her crime was officially declared to be "adultery," even though she had never married and was only 16 when the very judge who had condemned her to death served the added role of executioner by personally placing the noose around Atefeh's tiny neck and ordering her body to be raised. Unofficially, however, Atefeh's crime was defiance - defiance of the unnatural and unreasonable rules that were forced upon her by the Islamic government; defiance of her status as something less than human; defiance of the inequality, poverty and misogyny that have infested Iran in the past 27 years; and defiance of the binds designed to break the human spirit and destroy the essence of childhood.