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PETITION AGAINST ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM AGAINST WOMEN IN IRAN
>Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
>e-mail: womenscommittee@iranncr.org
>
>
>Dear Friends,
>Those who wish to help us in collecting signatures for our petition,
>or wish to copy and distribute the declaration, can use the attached
>document.
>
>If you do not have access to E-mail, you can fax your signed
>petitions to: 00 331 34480134 (France).
>
>Thank you for your letters and messages of support.
>-------
>
>With Iranian Women, Against Islamic Fundamentalism
>
>The Islamic fundamentalists who rule Iran have suppressed women in
>the most cruel manner over the past two decades. Inhuman punishments
>such as stoning, execution, and flogging of women in public under
>bogus pretexts were stepped up in 2001.
>
>Iran’s ruling mullahs have executed tens of thousands of women on
>political grounds and imprisoned and viciously tortured many more for
>the past 22 years. A fatwa, or religious edict, issued by Khomeini
>formally declared “female members and supporters” of the Mojahedin,
>the main opposition group to the mullahs, open game: they could be
>killed, tortured or raped and their properties could be confiscated.
>This fatwa continues to be enforced by Khomeini’s successors and
>Mojahedin girls have been systematically raped by the Revolutionary
>Guards before being executed.
>
>In December, the General Assembly of the United Nations condemned the
>violations of human rights and the increase in executions in Iran.
>The UN Human Rights Commission’s Special Representative in his report
>to the General Assembly pointed out that the Islamic Republic is “a
>prison for women” and reiterated that “there is no change in the
>foundational, legalized discrimination faced by women almost across
>the board.”
>
>Contrary to all the political claims and propaganda by the clerical
>regime and some Western circles, the situation of women has
>deteriorated in every sense under Mohammad Khatami.
>
>On May 11, 1997, in meeting with a group of women affiliated with the
>government, Khatami pulled aside the veil and said: “One of the
>West’s biggest mistakes was the emancipation of women, which
>destroyed the family... Staying at home does not mean being pushed to
>the sidelines... We must not think that social activity means working
>outside the home. Housekeeping is among the most important of tasks.”
>
>On September 10, 2001, Khatami told a similar meeting: “If we deploy
>women by force or by following the day’s fashion, in some arenas, it
>is as if we have stripped them of their choice and imposed
>restrictions on them...”
>
>Based on the mullahs’ rule, women are deprived of the right to
>presidency, judgeship and education in many fields. Official
>statistics reveal that women commit suicide four times more than men
>in Iran. The average age of prostitution has dropped from 27 to 20
>and the number of run-away girls has increased 30 per cent during
>Khatami’s tenure. The clerical regime’s laws set the minimum legal
>age for girls’ marriage at 8 lunar years and 9 months.
>
>In the beginning of the 21st century, the clerical regime’s officials
>are trying to forcibly return women to the Middle Ages in fear of
>their widespread participation in social uprisings, and
>anti-government strikes and protests. Women played a prominent role
>in five major uprisings in summer 2001. Chanting, “Down with Khatami,
>down with Khamenei,” they voiced their hatred of the mullahs’
>misogynous regime and conveyed it to the world.
>
>Women’s leading role in resistance against the medieval regime ruling
>Iran, is a solid obstacle curbing the spread of the misogyny of
>Iran’s ruling mullahs to other Islamic and Middle Eastern countries.
>Under the leadership of Maryam Rajavi, a Muslim, anti-fundamentalist
>woman, the Iranian Resistance has drawn a decisive demarcation
>between Islam—as a religion of peace, friendship and fraternity—
>and fundamentalism and misogyny.
>
>We the signatories to this declaration, condemn the suppressive and
>misogynous policies of the mullahs ruling Iran, and declare our
>support for the Iranian women’s struggle for freedom and equality,
>led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance’s President-elect.
>We urge the upcoming session of the UN Human Rights Commission to
>condemn unequivocally and firmly the violation of human rights,
>particularly women’s rights, in Iran.
>
>Name (please print) : Signature:
>Organisation:
>Country:
>E-mail:
>
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