Sorority with the women of Iran - "Women, Life, Freedom"

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Women are the first victims of Iran's patriarchal regime. Discriminaton against women is institutonalized and organized, as underlined by the misogynistic laws based for the most part on Sharia law, which relegate them to the status of second-class citizens.

In addition to the fact that the veil is compulsory in public places, inequalities between women and men are blatant, particularly in terms of criminal and family law. For example, a woman's testimony in court is worth half that of a man's, women cannot travel without their husband's permission, and in the event of divorce, custody of children is in the hands of the father. The law authorizes the conclusion of a “temporary marriage”, which often serves as a legal cover for prostituton and sex tourism. The law also permits the marriage of girls from the age of 13.

This legislative arsenal hinders women's place in society. While women account for more than half of all university graduates, their unemployment rate is twice that of men’s.

An Amnesty International report published last December highlights the horror that women have suffered in prisons and public places, following their arbitrary arrests during the "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprising. The scale of sexual violence and rape perpetrated by members of the repressive apparatus bears witness to the fact that gender oppression is an identity marker of this dictatorial system.

In addition to these acts of torture used by the regime to extract forced confessions and then sentence them to death, women are also victims of inhumane conditions of detention in Iranian prisons. Very often, the security forces refuse to allow victims to receive the necessary medical care. In the face of such violence, judicial responses to victims are biased. All the more so as women are under-represented in the judiciary: for example, they are forbidden to become judges. Victims are therefore silently subjected to institutonalized impunity.

Violence against women in prison has always been brutal. In addition to the desire for male domination, the rape of female prisoners is a strategic tool used to silence protest against decades of oppression.

Despite this brutal repression, the protest movement persists, amplified by the social networks, because women are in the vanguard of social movements. They remain determined to reclaim their bodies, acquire their fundamental rights and get rid of all the misogynistic laws and regulations that are part of this regime's DNA.

In particular, we support :

- The fundamental right of women to control their own bodies;

- the repeal of the law making it compulsory to wear the hijab in public places, as well as all phallocratic laws in force.

March 4, 2024

FARSI