Islamic Regime of Iran’s=

Gender and Religious Apartheid

Human Rights Abuses of Isla= mic Regime in Iran

The right to a fair trial in Iran has been compromised by the 1994 Act establishing Public and Revolutionar= y Courts, in which among other things, the responsibility of the Public Prosecutor = was transferred to the judge, to expedite hearing of the cases. This clearly compromises the independence of the judiciary, in violation of Article 10= of the United Nations Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors, which states th= at: “ The office of prosecutors shall be strictly separated from judicial functions”, and Article 14 of the Internati= onal Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which provides for the rig= ht to be tried before an independent and impartial tribunal.

We remain concerned by reports that hundreds of people arrested in connection with student demonstrations in July 1999 continue to be detained without charge or trial and that some have been sentenced to long prison terms, or death, after manifestly unfair trials by Islamic Revolutionary Courts.

Unprecedented rise in the prosecution and conviction of writers, editors and publishers= by special courts, whose procedures do not conform to internationally recogn= ized standards for fair trial, is a clear violation of their fundamental right= s.

United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights W= atch Dog and other Internationally recognized organizations for number of years have been denied access to visit Iran, due to the widespread and systematic sever Human Rights violations in Iran we urge the world community to pres= sure Iran to grant such visits and full observation of trials and jail visits.

MEHR Iran appeals to the world community and the democracies of the world to pressure the Islamic Regime to practice the individual rights enshrined in such instruments as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rig= hts, to which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a state party.

World community should pressure Iran to observe without reservation, the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatments or Punishments.=

United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights W= atch Dog, and other internationally recognized organizations have been denied access to visit Ir= an. We urge the world community to pressure Iran to grant such visits a= nd allow full observation of trail and jail visits.

Mass Executions of 1= 989

At the end of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) Ayatollah Khomeini issued a secret religious decree setting up special commissions with instructions to exec= ute all political prisoners who were not clearly repentant. These victims were largely Mojaheds, categorized as moharebs (those who war against God), and leftist, labeled as mortads (apostates from Islam).

The commissions questioned prisoners throughout the country to decide which o= nes should receive the death penalty. The proceedings began with assurances to the prisoners that the purpose of the undertaking was to initiate a gener= al amnesty. Then the commission members asked the prisoners about “the= ir organizational affiliation. If they replied ‘ Mojahedin’, the questioning ended there. If they replied 'monafeqin' (hypocrites), the commission continued with such questions as’ Are you willing to denounce former colleagues? ‘ ‘ Are you willing to help us hunt them down?’ ‘W= ill you identify phony repentant?’ ‘ Will you go to the war front and walk through enemy minefields?’ In most cases, the prisoners were blindfolded throughout the proceedings. The socialists and communists were asked,” are you a Muslim? Do you bel= ieve in God? Is the Holly Koran word of God? Will you publicly recant historic= al materialism? Do you pray and read the Holly Koran?”

Vast majority was "Prisoners of Conscience" as they had not been cha= rged with actual deeds or plans of deeds against the state.<= /p>

So far, more than 5,000 of these defenseless victims have been identified.

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Legalized Torture

Ta’zir, or discretionary punishment, is a feature in Islamic law. In 1980 the fir= st parliament of the Islamic Republic codified this provision of Islamic law= by passing a bill giving judges permission to mete out seventy-four lashes to those who, among other things, kiss illicitly, fail to dress properly or = lie to the authorities.

Clerical interrogators can give indefinite series of seventy-four lashings until t= hey obtain “honest answers”. “Therefore if answers” a= re not satisfactory, they can lawfully whipped for ‘lying’ in theory, this punishment should come after a proper law court has found th= em guilty of perjury. But the line between interrogation and trial is hazy as the same clerics wear three different turbans-Prosecutor, judge, and interrogator. According to the new law, interrogators with proper theolog= ical credentials are entitled to lash until the guilty ‘confess the truth.’ The constitution of the Islamic Republic forbids torture and coerced confession, but Ta’zir law allows both physical punishment = and voluntary confession.

Under the bizarre justice system of the Islamic Republic, convictions of the accused are primarily based not on evidence but on confessions. Thus the = use of torture as a tool to obtain confession is built into the very structur= e of the theocratic order. Therefore, it is quite logical that the presiding j= udge in the trial also functions as the prosecutor. MEHR Iran appeals to world community to pressure Islamic Republic to repeal Ta'zir law. <= /span>

Islamic constitution has divided Iranians into supreme, ordinary and inferior citizens. Iran has been declared as an Islamic society that the laws and the way of life should conform to Islamic ways and means. Clerics are the ones with the r= ight of guidance and governance and they will choose among themselves the Supr= eme leader, who has the ultimate saying in all aspects of legislation, govern= ment affairs, judiciary, armed forces and any other personal or public affairs= of the society, who is not accountable to the people but is to the GOD.=

There are two main branches of Islam and each of them has numerous factions wit= hin them. Islamic regime of Iran believes in an orthodox branch of shie’tt. About one fifth of the Iranian population are Sunni Moslems, that by constitution can not be cho= sen as supreme leader, President, judges, cabinet level ministers, ambassador= s, commanders of the armed forces members of the Guardian Counsel, heads of = the various governmental foundations and simply put it any organization or en= tity which is influential in steering the country. The same applies to other recognized religions such as Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians.

Other religions bes= ide these such as Bahai’s, Hindu’s and others are not recognized = and systematically are being persecuted and being deprived from state sponsored programs suc= h as health, welfare, education and such other programs.

Religious and Gender Apartheid by Islamic Regime

The marriage age for the girls in Iran is 9 lunar years which conform to eight years and 9 month of solar calendar, in western style democracies this is= not an acceptable age and having sex with a child of this age is being consid= ered statuary rape, that is punishable by the law. The physical torture and me= ntal torment that an eight year old child is having at her wedding night when = she has to sexually please a man at least two to three times her own age if n= ot older, is incomprehensible.

If having sex with an eight-year-old child is wrong in this society, then it= is wrong anywhere and any place, and our morality does not permit us to rewa= rd such a government that harbors such laws to be our trading partners, in p= lace of legal action &= nbsp;

There are two main branches of Islam and each of them has numerous factions wit= hin them. Islamic regime of Iran believes in an orthodox branch of shie’tt. About one fifth of the Iranian population are Sunni Moslems, that by constitution can not be cho= sen as supreme leader, President, judges, cabinet level ministers, ambassador= s, commanders of the armed forces members of the Guardian Counsel, heads of = the various governmental foundations and simply put it any organization or entity, which is influential in steering the country. The same applies to= other recognized religions such as Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians. Other religions beside these such as Bahai’s, Hindu’s and others are not recognized and systematically are being persecuted =

and being deprived from state sponsored programs such as health, welfare, education and such other programs. Some of the discriminatory laws of Isl= amic Republic faced by minorities are:

Article 207 Islamic Criminal Cod= es:

This section provides for punishment in the form of retribution (Ghesas) when a Muslim is killed.

When the victim is a non-Muslim, the law is silent and by construction, no punishment needs to be enforced. If a non -married Muslim man commits fornication, his punishment is 100 lashes and if a non -Muslim man fornic= ates with non-Muslim woman, the punishment is the same. However, if the woman = is a Muslim, the punishment for the non-Muslim man is death.=

Article 121 of the Islamic Civil= Code:

The punishment for “homosexual touching” and similar acts, if the= re is no entry, is 100 lashes. However, if the subject is a non-Muslim and t= he object a Muslim, the punishment for the subject is death.

Article 881 of the Civil Code:

A non-Muslim shall not inherit from a Muslim if among the heirs of the dece= ased there is a Muslim.

Article 163 of the Constitution = and the conditions for selection of Judges Code:

Only a male Muslim may become a Judge.

Articles 297 and 300 of the Civil Code:

These rules provide for blood money (Deyeh) for the killing of a Muslim man or woman. Blood money for the Muslim woman is one half of the same for the Muslim man. When the victim is a non- Muslim the law is silent. By construction, non-Muslims are not entitled to blood money.

MEHR
P.O. Box 2037=
P.V.P., CA 90274
USA

Tel: (310) 377-4590=
Fax: (310) 377-3103

E-mail: mehr@mehr.org
URL: http://mehr.org

MEHR is registered as a non-= profit organization.
Contributions to MEHR are tax-exempt

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