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May/June 2007  |
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Ghazal Omid Iran
cracks down on scarves The campaign in the streets of major cities was the toughest such crackdown in nearly two decades, raising fears that hard-liner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad intends to re-impose the tough Islamic Revolution-era constraints on women's dress that loosened in past years. The move highlighted the new boldness among hard-liners in Ahmadinejad's government, which has used mounting Western pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme and Iraq as a pretext to put down internal dissent. But it could bring a backlash at a time when many Iranians resent Ahmadinejad for failing to boost the faltering economy or halt spiralling prices and blame him for isolating Iran with his fiery rhetoric. The two-day-old crackdown was already angering moderates. "What they do is really insulting. You simply can't tell people what to wear. They don't understand that use of force only brings hatred toward them, not love," said Elham Mohammadi, a 23-year-old female student. Her hair was hardly hidden by her white-and-orange headscarf - an infraction that could bring police attention. Police could be seen on Monday stopping and giving warnings to other women who were showing too much hair or even wearing too colourful a headscarf. Khatami reforms Looser dress codes are one of the few surviving gains from the era of Ahmadinejad's predecessor, reformist President Mohammad Khatami, who was in power from 1997 to 2005. During that time, many women, particularly in cities, shed the dress code imposed after the 1979 revolution - veils completely covering the hair and heavy coats or the black or gray head-to-toe chador hiding the shape of the body. Now it is common to see women in loose headscarves - some as narrow as a ribbon - that show much of their hair and short, colourful, form-fitting jackets that stop at the knee - or even higher - showing jeans underneath. Even under Ahmadinejad in the past two years, women can be seen in pants that leave the bottom of their calves bare. Any of those styles could bring warnings or detention from the anti-vice police in the current sweep, which began on Saturday. Anti-vice police - many of them women - have been stopping women in the streets of the capital and other cities if they deem their dress is "un-Islamic". Men also detained So far, 278 women have been detained, 231 of whom were released after they signed papers promising they won't appear "inadequately dressed in public," police spokesperson Colonel Mahi Ahmadi told The Associated Press Monday. Another 3 548 women have been given "warnings and Islamic guidance," without being detained, Ahmadi said. Twelve men have also been detained for "not observing the proper Islamic dress code" by wearing tight pants or short-sleeve shirts, he said. Four women's rights activists sentenced to prison for organizing a peaceful protest demanding equal rights www.learningpartnership.org/advocacy/alerts/iranwomenarrests0307 Four
women's rights activists were sentenced to prison last week for their
role in organizing the June 12, 2006 peaceful protest demanding equal
rights for women. The activists are organizers of the "One Million
Signatures" Campaign launched in August 2006 to demand an end
to discriminatory laws against women. They were officially charged
under article 610 of the penal code with "actions against the
state" and threatening "national security." Support
the Sentenced Activists Send
emails to protest the sentencing of women's rights activists. Fariba Davoudi Mohajer was sentenced to 4 years in prison, three of which are suspended and one year needs to be served. Parvin Ardalan and Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani were sentenced to 3 years, of which two and a half years are suspended and six months are to be served. Sussan Tahmasebi received 2 years, of which one year and a half years are suspended and six months are to be served. The women will be required to serve the suspended sentences if "found guilty of another crime"--meaning continue activism--during the next five years. The government is using the suspended sentence as a way to pressure activists into ceasing their activities. Hejaab ** Gozareshe Tasviri Az Tarhe Amniyate Ejtemayiee (Tehran)
Iran: Self-Immolation Of Kurdish
Women Brings Concern
The Kurdistan Human Rights Organization is expressing concern over the self-immolation of Kurdish women in Iran's Western Azerbaijan Province. The organization has published the name of more than 150 Kurdish women who have committed suicide in the past nine months, the majority of them by setting themselves on fire. Observers and activists say self-immolation of women is also happening in some other Western provinces of Iran that have large Kurdish populations, such as Ilam, Kermanshah, and Kurdistan. Domestic violence, social injustice, and discrimination are cited as the main reasons for self- immolation among women.
Reform in Iranian Women Dresses? "Maybe this is the End"
Tehran, 24 January 2006-Seminar of Iranian Women National Dress was canceled yesterday due to the absence of authorities, high ranking officials and guests from other organizations. Ms. Mahla Zamani, a fashion designer and editor of "Lotus", the first Persian Fashion Journal, who has spent 13 years on designing dresses which correspond to Iranian culture and are in compliance with the time demands, had planned to hold a seminar on Iranian Women National Dress yesterday in Tehran with the presence of authorities, high ranking officials, representatives from Iran' Parliament and Tehran Municipality as well as many other well-known figures from universities and governmental organizations to discuss the possible ways for designing a national dress for Iranian women. Unfortunately, except for a few guest speakers, no one else showed up which resulted in the cancellation of the seminar all together. "I have devoted all my life in designing a national dress that is derived from Iranian history and culture, especially after the speech of the leader of Islamic Republic of Iran about the necessity of designing special Islamic-Iranian dresses, I have tried my best to fulfill this task. Now it feels discouraging to see no one is support my ideas," Zamani said to CHN correspondent with grief. This is while Zamani had made great efforts to hold a fruitful seminar by inviting some prominent guests and university professors as well as government officials as speakers of this seminar. "Despite the official invitation that I had sent out and the support I was promised, among all the authorities that I had invited, no one came here today. Maybe this is the end, maybe others can do something in this regard in the future," she added with regret. Last week Zamani held an exhibition of Iranian women dresses at National Commission of UNESCO office in Tehran which received a large number of visitors and was a huge success.
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