NCRI-Monthly-April 2014-en

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April 2014IntroductionThe month of April was simultaneous with the escalation of pressure and repression againstwomen such as issuing death sentences, detentions and violations of women’s basic rightsincluding the raid by the Iranian regime's repressive State Security Forces and prison authoritiesto a section of a women prison in the Shahr-e-ray, located in Greater Tehran metropolitan area,harshly beating the defenseless female prisoners.Reyhaneh Jabbari’s death sentence, the 26-year-old woman who had committed murder in selfdefense,became one of the main subjects of the international reports about Iran which alsoattracted reaction of Dr. Ahmed Shahid, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran. In her willaddressed to her mother, she stated how the misogynist system ruling Iran provides no rights forthe people, particularly women. The NCRI Women’s Committee has launched an urgentcampaign to save the life of Reyhaneh Jabbari from imminent execution and we ask all supportersof human rights to be her voice by signing a statement which will be addressed to the UnitedNations Secretary General and UNWomen to order the Iranian regime to halt the execution.Please find the link to the campaign at the end of the bulletin.Unfortunately, even more shocking was the fact that despite the deteriorating situation forwomen under the rule of the mullahs’ ruling Iran, the United Nations appointed Iran foranother four years as a member of the Commission on the Status of Women. A lot of humanrights and women’s rights activists around the world were outraged at this questioning how couldit be possible for a regime who is not even a signatory to the Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women (CEDAW) and has executed over 20 women in the last year andis on the verge of execution a young woman who only defended her honor, represent and be acountry to decide on the status of women in the level stated?We invite you to read an Op-ed on this matter written by a member of the NCRI Women’s Committee:http://women.ncr-iran.org/news-events/incoming-articles/521-the-world-must-stop-ignoring-irans-record-on-womenExecutions & death sentencesThe death sentence of Falaknaz Moradi was postponed two minutes after she was suspended fromthe gallows on April 17, 2014. The 60 year-old prisoner who has spent almost one-third of her lifein prison (18 years), has been waiting for her sentence to be carried all through this time.On April 11, Amnesty international, issued and statement opposing the death sentence issued forReyhaneh Jabbari. Reyhaneh Jabbari, aged 26, was arrested in 2007 for the murder of MortezaAbdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. Reyhaneh Jabbarihttp://women.ncr-iran.org/ Facebook / NCRI Women's Committee Twitter/ NCRIWomen'sCommittee

confessed to the murder immediately after her arrest, though she did not have a lawyer present atthe time she made her confession. She stated that the murder took place in self-defense.Reyhaneh Jabbari was sentenced to death under qesas (“retribution-in-kind”) by a criminal courtin Tehran in 2009. The death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court the same year.Fox News Website announced on April 14: The U.N. human rights office in Geneva saysReyhaneh Jabbari is reportedly due to be executed Tuesday for the 2007 killing of MortezaAbdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry.On the same day, the UN Special Rapporteur objected this inhuman sentence and urged its haltin his website :The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation ofhuman rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, today urged theIslamic Republic of Iran to halt immediately the execution ofan Iranian woman, Reyhaneh Jabbari...Ms Jabbari, an interior designer by profession, was sentencedto death for the alleged murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi,a former employee of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, in acase that has raised legal concerns.“The Iranian authorities should review her case and refer it back to court for a re-trial, ensuringthat the defendant due process rights guaranteed under both Iranian law and international law,”Mr Shaheed said...Since her arrest and throughout her prosecution, Ms. Jabbari has maintainedthat her actions were taken in self-defense, and were aimed at preventing a potential serioushttp://women.ncr-iran.org/ Facebook / NCRI Women's Committee Twitter/ NCRIWomen'sCommittee

assault on her person. She has also alleged being coerced to confess to actions under severeduress.“Ms. Jabbari’s case raises serious due process concerns, particularly with regard to herinterrogation and the reluctance of the court to take into account all relevant circumstantialevidence into its judgment,” the Special Rapporteur said, stressing that her conviction for premeditatedmurder was allegedly based on confessions made under duress possibly amounting totorture... “If her allegations are true, Ms. Jabbari may have been doubly victimized; first by herattacker, and then by the judicial system, which is supposed to protect victims of intended andactual sexual and physical assault,” the expert stressed. “Sexual violence, often directed againstwomen, must always be fought in all of its forms.”Mr. Shaheed regretted the spike in executions this year in Iran and renewed his call to theGovernment to immediately halt them. Over 170 persons including at least two women havebeen executed since the beginning of 2014 and a large number of prisoners on death row riskimminent execution.“The imposition of the death penalty plainly goes against the current international trend toencourage a moratorium on, and abolition of the death penalty. We urge the authorities to jointhis world trend by establishing a moratorium on execution with a view of abolishing the deathpenalty,” the expert stressed.Excerpts of Reyhaneh’s will written on April 1, 2014: “Because in the court of God I will chargethe inspectors, I will charge inspector Shamlou, I will charge judge, and the judges of country’sSupreme Court that beat me up when I was awake and did not refrain from harassing me. In thecourt of the creator I will charge Dr. Farvandi, I will charge Qassem Shabani and all those thatout of ignorance or with their lies wronged me and trampled on my rights and didn’t pay heed tothe fact that sometimes what appears as reality is different from it. Dear soft-hearted Sholeh (hermother’s name), in the other world it is you and me who are the accusers and others who are theaccused. Let’s see what God wants. I wanted to embrace you until I die. I love you.”Link to Reyhaneh’s will address to her mother from prison: http://women.ncr-iran.org/newsevents/news/515-young-woman-on-death-row-leaves-will-to-mother-from-prisonLink to Urgent Call to save the life of Reyhaneh Jabbari:https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/11562-help-save-reyhaneh-jabbariPrisonPrisons were the other area imposing pressure on women. After the raid on women ward inVaramin Prison the problem appears even worse. On April 28th a large number of femaleprisoners in Qarchak Varamin prison (central Iran) were attacked with batons, electrical shockershttp://women.ncr-iran.org/ Facebook / NCRI Women's Committee Twitter/ NCRIWomen'sCommittee

and tear gas. According to witnesses, some of the prisoners suffered injuries to the head, face andeyes. Their bodies are still bruised. Female prisoners with civil charges are held in QarchakVaramin prison, which has inapt conditions and facilities. Social activists have warned severaltimes about the prison’s unsuitable conditions and violent treatment by its authorities.Meanwhile the mother of political prisoner Hossein Ronaqi Maleki (aprisoner who is protesting the raid to ward 350) stated that the government’steam of experts has still not answered about the April 17 attack on Evinprison’s ward 350.She said, “We the families of the prisoners rallied one day in front of theparliament and the next day in front of the president’s office. Theparliamentarians promised us to investigate but we have received no answer yet. A person namedColonel Amanian told the prisoners while beating them with a baton that next time they wouldbe beaten to death. Our children have no security in Evin Prison and we are worried day andnight. I urge all the human rights activists and Ahmad Shahid and whoever can do anything, tohelp us.”Arrests and detention of womenPressure on Baha’is continued this month. One recent event was the arrest of twoBaha’i sisters in Mashhad.In another event, Nasrin Sotoudeh was summoned by the Security officials inKhouzestan Province on March 30. She was accused of anti-government activities.Women suppressionDuring the month of April, SSF announced a new suppressive plan against women for thesummer and hot weather calling it Darya (sea).According to the Tasnim state-run News Agency- Apr. 26, theState Security Forces commander in Mazandaran province(northern Iran), announced that according to a new plannamed Darya which will start in late May, police will confrontmal-veiled women and those who disrupt moralsecurity.Massoud Jafari said, “The plan is nationwide and notspecifically for Mazandaran province. According to the plan,police will confront mal-dressed and mal-veiled persons.http://women.ncr-iran.org/ Facebook / NCRI Women's Committee Twitter/ NCRIWomen'sCommittee

Preparations for carrying out the plan have been made.”Emphasizing that mal-veiled and mal-dressed individuals would be fined, he said, “Unfortunatelysome of us believe that special measures by the judiciary have to be carried out to confront suchpeople.”Discrimination against womenDiscrimination against women continues, showing itself in the elimination of women fromeducational fields, daily works and jobs.Women’s role reduced in medical jobsOn Saturday April 5 th , Deputy Hygiene Minister in Educational Affairs introduced a new plancalled ‘Gender Balancing at Medical Sciences Universities’, which limits women’s acceptance atuniversities. As its first step toward this policy the Hygiene Ministry announced a first plan. SharqPaper wrote, “The Hygiene Ministry has started to put limitations on women for nearly twentyyears while women have been the most accepted gender in medical fields’. According to officialfigures issued by the Iranian Statistics Center in 1991, from sixty five thousand medical students,37 thousand were men and 27 thousand women, but after 1997 females succeeded to obtainmore opportunities and the number of female students in medical fields reached 72 thousandwhile the number of men educating in these area is 52 thousand. Women’s roles continuedincreasing and in 2006 female medical students became 73 percent while the men were morethan 26 percent. Duration of this process resulted in 68 percent girls in comparison with 32percent men in 2010 which is the same during the current academic year. However Rouhani’sgovernment passed a doubled urgency plan in the Hygiene and Treatment Committee of theparliament to correct the equality in high educations rule. According to this plan, the 25 percentwomen’s quota in the mostly wanted fields of surgery assistance was eliminated and midwifery aswell as women specialty was 100 percent reserved for women.However, the number of women accepted in universities does not lead to more opportunities insocial and economic jobs. The number of women employment still has a great distance to menemployment. Only 20 percent of women are members of scientific boards and only 13 percent ofthem have effective roles in the Iranian job market.” (Radio Zamaneh- April. 6, 2014)Numbers show the real pictureTo provide a bright image from limitations and pressures imposed on women, it is adequate togive some statistics issued in state-run medias.Statistic Report: Iranian woman and hard life conditionhttp://women.ncr-iran.org/ Facebook / NCRI Women's Committee Twitter/ NCRIWomen'sCommittee

Doubled number of single-parent womenBased on the results of the 2011 census announced by the State Statistic Organization, 12 percentof the 21 million, 110 thousand and 481 families in the country are presided by single-parentwomen whereas the number was 6.5 per cent the preliminary figures. This result shows adoubling in 2011 number and the Head of the State Statistic Organization predicts the numberwill increase to 15 per cent during the three coming years. Thirty five per cent of single-parentwomen have husbands and the rest do not have. Other figure shows, 26 per cent of women agedbellow 35 are divorcees. (Fars state-run News Agency- Apr. 1, 2014)Eighty-two percent of single-parent women are unemployedBased on conducted census, from the 2 million and 500 thousand single-parent women living inthe country only 18 per cent are employed and the rest 82 per cent are unemployed. Consideringthat the figures are based on three age regiments of bellow 35, 35-65 and older than 65, Head ofthe Statistic Organization stipulated, “Statistics show that the higher number of single-parentwomen are middle aged.”Average income of $341.550 a year for single-parent womenThe average income of the single parent women is said to be 9 billion and 900 million rials(about $341.550) which raises great concern because 81 percent of women in poor society areilliterate and the number of their family is high.Women’s low employment, proof of discrimination against themDeputy President in Women and Family Affairs, Shahindokht Mollaverdi believes that the lownumber of single-parent women employment is an evidence of inequality in employment andsays, “As the single-parent women are bearing life difficulties solely on their own shoulders, theycould face physical and psychological problems in long term. (Fars state-run News Agency- Apr. 1,2014)Unemployment in different provinces and percentage of unemployed womenThe Statistical Center of Iran provided the results of the autumn 2013 work forces’ figure, whichindicate a 10.3 percent unemployment rate during this season with 2 million and 401 thousandunemployed people.According to this report, the higher rate of unemployment was among 20-24 year-old women witha rate of 468 percent.According to Statistical Center of Iran, unemployment rate among 10-year-old people and up is10.3 percent. The highest numbers between the provinces were respectively 18.9 percent inLorestan and 16.1 percent in Kurdistan. The best situation of employment is in GolestanProvince with 4 percent unemployed people. (State-run Asre Iran Website- Apr. 9, 2014)Sixty three percent of educated women are unemployedhttp://women.ncr-iran.org/ Facebook / NCRI Women's Committee Twitter/ NCRIWomen'sCommittee

Zahra Akhavan, expert in social and women’s affairs, said in the presence of the mullah’spresident at the national gathering on women’s leadership in economics and cultural affairs that:“The crisis of unemployment is extensive in the county particularly when sixty-three percent ofeducated women are unemployed. Unfortunately, what I am warning is that girls in our societyfind themselves in traps when searching for jobs. In fact if economic and cultural problems arenot resolved, we will be faced with crisis in the near future.”(State-run Tasnim News Agency- Apr. 20, 2014)http://women.ncr-iran.org/ Facebook / NCRI Women's Committee Twitter/ NCRIWomen'sCommittee