{"id":2976,"date":"2014-10-31T20:32:56","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T20:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hopoi.org\/?p=2976"},"modified":"2014-10-31T20:32:56","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T20:32:56","slug":"no-safe-space-for-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/?p=2976","title":{"rendered":"No safe space for women"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"isfahan\"<\/a>On October 25 the authorities in Iran\u2019s Islamic Republic executed Reyhaneh Jabbari for killing a man who allegedly tried to rape her in 2009. The 26-year-old Reyhaneh had spent the last seven years in prison, charged with the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a general medical practitioner who had previously worked for the intelligence ministry.<\/p>\n

Reyhaneh was executed after her relatives failed to gain consent from the victim\u2019s family for a reprieve. During her trial and subsequent appeals Jabbari had admitted stabbing Abdolali Sarbandi once in the back. However, she maintained throughout those seven years that there was a third person in the house who actually killed him. According to Jalal Sarbandi, the victim\u2019s eldest son, Reyhaneh had refused to identify the man. He was quoted in the Iranian media as saying: \u201cOnly when her true intentions are exposed and she tells the truth about her accomplice and what really went down will we be prepared to grant mercy.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

One law for the rich<\/h3>\n

The consent of the victim\u2019s family was essential for a reprieve because of Iran\u2019s adherence to the medieval laws of hodoud<\/em> (punishment) and qasas<\/em> (retribution). The sharia law of qasas<\/em> covers all crimes involving personal injury or murder. The victim (or in the case of murder the victim\u2019s family) are entitled to retribution (\u2018an eye for an eye\u2019 or \u2018a life for a life\u2019). However, the victim or the victim\u2019s family have the power to forgive the culprit and stop the punishment decided by the court in exchange for compensation paid in the form of diyya<\/em> or blood money.<\/p>\n

In the days since the execution most of the criticism directed against this particular hanging and the practice of qasas<\/em> have concentrated on the medieval nature of this law, and there are valid reasons for arguing against it. However, an additional and potentially more serious aspect of the law is the fact that it gives the rich the ability to pay money in exchange for a reprieve, a practice widely used in Iran\u2019s Islamic Republic. A clear example of the universal reality that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor. On the day Reyhaneh was executed, another two prisoners were reprieved because they paid substantial sums to the family of their respective victims. Reyhaneh\u2019s case was different, in that she did not admit murder and paying the diyya<\/em> would have amounted to an acceptance of guilt.<\/p>\n

Of course, paying large sums of money to avoid serving a proper sentence for heinous crimes, including murder, exists in western judicial systems, albeit in a different form. The rich and powerful are able to employ the best available legal team, who are more likely to deliver a \u2018not guilty\u2019 verdict or a reduced sentence. In the OJ Simpson case in the US, expensive lawyers ensured a \u2018not guilty\u2019 verdict in 1995 and two years later a jury in a civil court decided Simpson should pay $25 million in punitive damages to the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L Goldman, the two people he was accused of murdering. True, he was subsequently jailed for 33 years for armed robbery and kidnapping, but his lawyers have already succeeded in getting the minimum period before parole is considered reduced to four years.<\/p>\n

No doubt Iran\u2019s laws of hodoud<\/em> and qasas<\/em> are medieval. However, the OJ Simpson case is but one example of the increasing tendency in many western countries to imitate the system of sharia compensation. Both in the United States and the United Kingdom, criminal injuries compensation has become an integral part of \u2018victim support\u2019.<\/p>\n

Several commentators have pointed to another deficiency of Iran\u2019s judicial system: the fact that women cannot become judges. Sharia law considers women too \u2018emotional\u2019 and \u2018irrational\u2019 to hold such a position and this is certainly a clear example of misogyny – an obvious case of discrimination against women which must be condemned in the strongest terms. Having said that, we should also remember that the appointment of female judges is no guarantee that women will obtain justice, be they victims of violent crime or defendants like Reyhaneh. After all, only last week a woman judge in South Africa gave a five-year sentence to Oscar Pistorius for \u2018culpable manslaughter\u2019 – a sentence considered grossly inadequate by women activists in South Africa and worldwide.<\/p>\n

The third aspect of the execution that has provoked controversy is the role played by social media, personalities and campaigners trying to help Reyhaneh inside and outside Iran. Her lawyer has claimed that, far from helping her case, the international campaigns and \u2018attempts to politicise her trial\u2019 had precipitated her death.2<\/a><\/sup> The reality is that in a country like Iran this trial, like many other aspects of people\u2019s lives, was<\/em> political, irrespective of who takes up the case.<\/p>\n

There is no such a thing as non-political human rights and, although it is true that Iran has at times responded to interventions over such issues from, say, the UN\u2019s human rights commissioners with more<\/em> arrests and executions, the fact remains that confronting a dictatorship in support of a prisoner via social media, and campaigning to enlist such support from artists, writers, etc, is one of the few means left for anyone wishing to help a victim of injustice.<\/p>\n

What is<\/em> problematic is the use of \u2018human rights\u2019 issues by western governments during times of confrontation with Iran – although now, of course, when Iran is no longer imperialism\u2019s main enemy, such campaigns are less vocal and so the increasing dependence on imperialist resources by Iranian human rights groups means they are now worse placed than ever before. In the face of a bigger threat in the form of Islamic State, the priority for US and EU governments has changed. They are no longer so enthusiastic for regime change in Tehran and all those feminist, pseudo-left and human rights groups who relied on US\/EU largesse are now finding themselves increasingly deprived of funding. Yet campaigns such as the one aimed at saving Reyhaneh are still considered by Tehran as imperialist interventions, even though the groups concerned are these days struggling to generate interest from the ruling class (except amongst hard-line Zionists and ultra-conservative Republicans).<\/p>\n

As predicted, those groups that allowed themselves to become incorporated by the imperialists in their anti-Iran drive have now become a true hindrance to the cause of democratic, women\u2019s and working class rights in Iran and the Middle East. Their association, direct or indirect, with unsavoury \u2018regime change\u2019 forces has brought into disrepute the genuine struggles of women, national minorities or workers inside the country and in this particular case did indeed probably increase the likelihood of execution.<\/p>\n

Acid attacks<\/h3>\n

According to reports published on Iranian websites and social media last week, thousands of people have staged angry protests in Isfahan and Tehran against recent acid attacks on young women. The women who were targeted in Isfahan had their hair covered, but their hijabs were considered by some clerics to be inadequate. The demonstrators\u2019 placards read: \u201cStop violence against women,\u201d \u201cIranian women have a right to freedom and security\u201d, \u201cIsfahan doesn\u2019t want Daesh [Islamic State]\u201d and \u201cStop acid attacks\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is not clear exactly how many have been victims of such horrible attacks, but the authorities have admitted that eight women are currently in hospital – although many believe the real number is rather higher. Women activists claim these vicious assaults are related to a recent campaign by the more conservative religious leaders to launch civilian vigilante groups to enforce the commandment, Amr be marouf,<\/em> nahye az monker<\/em> (\u2018Command the good, forbid the evil\u2019).<\/p>\n

President Hassan Rowhani has tried to distance himself from the conservatives, but his opposition has so far been limited to \u2018moderate\u2019 comments, in which he has refused to contradict the supreme leader and conservative clerics, while attempting to appease his own supporters. For example: \u201cDo not interfere in people\u2019s lives so much, even if it is out of compassion. Let people pick their own path to heaven. One cannot take people to heaven through force and a whip. The Prophet did not have a whip in his hand.\u201d3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The response from conservative clerics was predictable: \u201cThey say, let people be and don\u2019t take them to heaven by force. Fine: we\u2019ll suspend commanding the good and forbidding evil. To the thief, and to the girl \u2026 with bad veiling, we\u2019ll say, \u2018Be a good child.\u2019 Is this Islam? Is this a determination to implement religion?\u201d4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Last week the Iranian parliament debated a bill aimed at prohibiting the use of violence in the hijab crackdown and in fact, as protests against the acid-throwing incidents grew, conservative clerics went out of their way to condemn these attacks, demanding severe punishment for the culprits. Indeed, sections of the pro-government media were blaming Mossad! For his part, Mohammad-Reza Naghdi, the head of the religious basij militia, claimed that there was no evidence that the attacks were linked to \u2018bad hijabs\u2019, and those who claimed otherwise were trying to distort the image of Islam. He claimed that \u201cwestern intelligence services\u201d were behind the attacks.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Rowhani\u2019s justice minister, claimed the assaults in Isfahan were terrorist attacks, aimed at sabotaging the city\u2019s safety. A number of Iranian papers, including the pro-\u2018reformist\u2019 daily, Shargh<\/em>, have said such incidents have the effect of making Isfahan, one of Iran\u2019s main tourist cities, appear unsafe for visitors. The following statement from one of the victims summarises the horrific nature of these attacks: \u201cI was coming back from the swimming pool and pulled over in Bozorgmehr Street, so that my friend could get out. That\u2019s when it all happened … I took off all my clothes and threw them to the ground. People gathered in a circle, but no-one helped to wash my body. Everyone was throwing back clothes on me, so that my body would not be naked.\u201d6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The government has now issued instructions on how to deal with such incidents, both in terms of helping the victims and avoiding contamination. However, as many Iranians have pointed out, this is a case of \u2018too little, too late\u2019. And, in a bizarre twist, there was news of arrests in Isfahan – not of those accused of throwing acid, but of women journalists from the semi-official news agency, ISNA. Their crime? Reporting the acid-throwing incidents and the subsequent protests.<\/p>\n

Both Reyhaneh\u2019s execution and the acid attacks have had limited coverage in sections of the British press and media. But, given the appalling injuries caused and the fact that even by Iran\u2019s standards the hanging of a young women is unusual, the muted response in Europe and the US shows the opportunistic nature of imperialist \u2018concerns\u2019 for women\u2019s rights in the Middle East. Iran is no longer the main enemy – some might even say it is an ally right now. So who cares about women\u2019s rights in that country?<\/p>\n

These events are also a reminder of other feminist misconceptions. Throughout the last three decades Islamic \u2018feminists\u2019 told us that the veil protected Iranian women against violence, that it created a \u2018safe space\u2019 for women and indeed one could argue that the ultimate safe space would include gender segregation and the veil. Yet the events of the last two weeks show the fallacy of such claims. The Islamic \u2018safe space\u2019 does not protect women against acid attacks. It does not protect women like Reyhaneh when they are attacked by a powerful man. It does not assist them during the lengthy judicial process.<\/p>\n

The lessons from Iran are crystal-clear: women cannot be protected through the imposition of (visible or invisible) restrictions – either through the veil or through phoney bureaucratic measures. It is only through the empowerment of women that we can ensure their safety and their equality. And that empowerment must start with the rejection of such patronising attitudes as those that aim to restrict women to \u2018safe spaces\u2019.<\/p>\n

Notes<\/h3>\n

<\/a>1. www.businessinsider.com\/afp-iran-hangs-woman-in-defiance-of-international-campaign-2014-10<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>2. BBC Persian service Radio, 26 October 2014,,Cheshm Andaz Bamdadi.<\/p>\n

<\/a>3. www.al-monitor.com\/pulse\/originals\/2014\/05\/khatami-criticizes-rouhani-heaven-force-whip.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>4. Ibid<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>5. http:\/\/freethoughtblogs.com\/butterfliesandwheels\/2014\/10\/isfahans-tourist-industry-is-at-stake<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>6. http:\/\/narekhartoonian.blogspot.co.uk<\/a>.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On October 25 the authorities in Iran\u2019s Islamic Republic executed Reyhaneh Jabbari for killing a man who allegedly tried to rape her in 2009. The 26-year-old Reyhaneh had spent the last seven years in prison, charged with the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a general medical practitioner who had previously worked for the intelligence ministry. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “No safe space for women”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}