Iranian Police Seal Restaurant After Woman Sings In Opening Ceremony

The signatories, who are all incarcerated in notorious Evin prison in Tehran, in a letter expressed anger over the death sentences and physical, mental, as well as psychological torture and threats of execution by the regime agents in prisons.

The political female prisoners are Bahareh Hedayat, Narges Mohammadi, Sepideh Qolian, Alieh Motallebzadeh, Hasti Amiri, Noushin Jafari and Raha Asgarizadeh.

They have also voiced appreciation for those prisoners, such as Sepideh Kashani and Nilufar Bayani, who despite all possible dangers, have revealed the dimensions of the crimes committed by the Islamic Republic agents.

Nilufar Bayani, researcher, conservationist, and scholar, in a letter in 2018 wrote about “the most severe mental and emotional tortures, threats of physical torture and sexual threats [she faced].”

Bayani was convicted in 2019 of espionage by Iranian authorities in a closed-door trial in Iran, and received a 10-year prison sentence.

Last week, in a letter, Sepideh Kashani, one of the ecologists and environmentalists detained since 2018 based on accusations of spying for foreign governments, said her interrogators tortured and threatened her with sexual assault for over 1,200 hours during the eight months that she was held incommunicado.

The torture of prisoners is not limited to the protesters arrested in the current wave of nationwide rallies. The regime is known for its inhumane methods regularly reported by human rights groups.

According to the Iranian Writers Action Committee (IWAC), Behanz Amani has been temporarily released from prison on bail.

In a letter the American poets have called on the Islamic Republic not to send Behnaz Amini to jail again due to her health condition.

“We are a group of American poets who write in solidarity with Behnaz Amani and support her right to peacefully protest the brutal and extrajudicial persecution of her students and many others in Iran. We make this plea: Do not send Behnaz Amani back to prison, under any circumstances.”

IWAC says after her release, she received a diagnosis of aggressive cervical cancer. Her brutal 46-day long detention in the notorious Qarchak Varamin Prison near Tehran has contributed to critical postponement in her cancer diagnosis and treatment.

They have also warned that anyone who takes part in incarcerating Amani again will be held responsible for what happens to her.

In October, Behnaz Amani ran afoul of Iranian authorities after signing a statement by university professors protesting the arrest of students.

Just two days after signing the letter, Amani was interrogated by security forces and two days after that she was abducted in front of her house.

Bob Perelman, Barry Schwabsky, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, and Michael Palmer are among the poets who have singed the letter.

The couple – Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, 22 and Astiyazh Haqiqi, 21 – shared a video of themselves dancing Azadi Square in Iran’s capital Tehran to show support for the protests after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in custody of the Iranian morality police.

They were arrested on November 10 when plainclothes agents beat and transferred them to ward 209 of the Ministry of Intelligence in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.

Besides the jail term, a two-year ban to use social media, and a two-year ban on leaving Iran has also been imposed on the couple. They have been charged with “encouraging corruption and public prostitution”.

The couple have also been charged with “colluding with the intention of disrupting national security and promoting propaganda.”

The two were deprived of having access to a lawyer, and their request to be released on bail was turned down.

The Islamic Republic has used draconian punishments in dealing with the protest movement.

Activists say regime forces have killed over 520 people and arrested about 20,000 so far. Four young men have also been hanged by the clerical rulers amid international outcries.

In a note published by the reformist Etemad newspaper Monday, Rabiei said one must examine economic indices with a gender-based bias to understand why women are such a strong driving force in the current protests.

He pointed out that the rate of women’s participation in Iran’s economy has never exceeded 17 percent compared with 60 percent for men, whereas the global average for women stands at 50 percent, adding that the rate which stood at 12 percent in 2014 climbed to 17.6 percent in 2018, the highest in the past two decades.

Rabiei added that unfortunately this modest gain was wiped out in the past three years, mainly because of the COVID pandemic and women’s economic participation now stands at 13 percent. “One of the country’s fundamental problems is that women’s health and education has improved but there have not been opportunities for women to expand their role in the economy and politics.

Around 25 percent of Iranian women over the age of eighteen have higher education.

“This means that women have achieved social status but have not had the opportunity to participate and faced barriers. The same applies to the middle class,” he wrote.

“Undoubtedly a section of those demanding change in the recent protests belong to this group,” Rabiei said and opined that the feminine character of the protests can be the outcome of inequality that bars women from accessing economic opportunities.

But the issue for many women is not just jobs, as they understand that there is systemic discrimination against them and lack of social freedoms. After all, the protests did not ignite because of economic demands, but for the freedom to walk in public free of the Islamic dress code.

Hardliners generally define the role of women in society first and foremost as mothers and wives. In his speeches, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei often tells women to marry early and have children. He has also insisted, on many occasions, that wearing the hijab does not limit women’s social role and their careers.

“One of the greatest mistakes of western thinking about the issue of [the role of] women is this gender equality... Why should women be asked to carry out tasks [fit for men]? What is the glory in having women carry out tasks [fit for] men? I am sorry that sometimes women themselves are sensitive about this issue,” he said in a speech in April 2014.

“The main issue with respect to women's emancipation in the West is dragging women from home to the factory, using them as cheap labor,” he said in a recent speech in which he insisted men and women have equal rights in Islam but different roles and that women's primary and most important duty is being mothers and wives, that is, their role as housewives.

With Khamenei’s backing, hardliners battled fiercely to prevent the government of President Hassan Rouhani from implementing the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly its Goal 5 regarding eradication of discrimination against women and their empowerment.

Hardliners held rallies to protest the government’s plans to implement the UN guidelines and even tried to smear Rouhani during his reelection campaign in 2017 by claiming that the guidelines included immoral things such as “teaching students about homosexuality”.

Ensieh Khazali, Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, said last week that the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is now being implemented but certain parts would be modified according to the government’s own views regarding their appropriateness.

Many have strongly criticized Khazali for her unverified claim about the implementation of the UN guidelines during a live televised debate with her reformist predecessor Masoumeh Ebtekar. Critics say the reason for hardliners’ objection to the implementation of the guidelines was their political rivalry with Rouhani.

Hamshahri Online wrote Monday that “Masoud Kimiai, who planned to go to the Netherlands Sunday night along with his son to participate in The International Film Festival Rotterdam, faced a travel ban at the airport.”

Hamshahri Online, which is affiliated to Tehran municipality, quoted one of the filmmaker’s friends as saying that Kimiai wanted to attend the screening of his film called ‘Killing A Traitor’.

Authorities allowed Ali Owji, the producer of the film, to leave Iran for the Netherlands.

Earlier, the Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association had announced the ban on Kimiai.

Killing A Traitor, the latest work by Masoud Kimiai, which is about the contemporary history of Iran, is slated to be screened in the Harbor section of the festival.

The ban on the famous director comes after a large number of Iranian cinematographers and artists have been summoned, arrested or banned from leaving the country since the beginning of nationwide protests in mid-September.

Officials are yet to provide an explanation about Kimiai’s travel ban, but on September 22, he released a video saying, “They killed Mahsa Amini, and this is the main reason to rise up.”

Kimiai is considered a pioneer of modern Iranian cinema, having gained acclaim with his 1969 film ‘Qeysar’ which was released 10 years before the Islamic revolution.