Iran uses religion as excuse for violence against women, says UN rapporteur

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The death of young Kurdish Mahsa Amini is the result of using religion as a kind of excuse for violence against women, she tells Sheet Javaid Rehman, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran.

For the British-Pakistani expert, the fact that Amini died in police custody for allegedly violating rules on the wearing of the Islamic headscarf joins the crackdown on protests critical of Iran’s theocratic regime as symptoms of the escalation of violence under the leadership of the President Ebrahim Raisi.

The professor at Brunel University, in London, also says that there is an upsurge in repression under the hard-line leader, but he sees the mobilizations after Amini’s death as a key opportunity for achieving women’s rights.

Critical of sanctions, Rehman says that consensus on human rights is still needed for the international community to put pressure on Iran and lists other types of violations that he has documented under the umbrella of the Iranian regime, such as child marriage.

Did the protests in Iran gain strength by becoming an outlet for diverse grievances? Or is the case of Mahsa Amini an exception? Protests have historically occurred in Iran every year, but some are more significant. In 2019, the population protested very forcefully, and security forces killed more than 300 protesters.

The case of Amini, a victim of state brutality, began as a protest but is developing into a movement that claims or reaffirms women’s rights. The policy of wearing the hijab violates women’s fundamental human rights and dignity.

I’d say it’s not just another unfortunate case. The people of Iran have now risen up and are not accepting the violence perpetrated by the state. The State is once again exercising a repressive attitude through brutality. And I fear that with this way of operating, there will be even more deaths.

We also saw pro-regime demonstrations. How would you describe public opinion in Iran? Iran is an authoritarian state, which represses fundamental civil rights. But using force does not stop the mobilization: people know they have fundamental rights.

The vast majority of Iranians no longer accept this repression. They want to live in peace, they are democrats, they want the rule of law and human rights to be respected.

Are there any openings for freedom of expression? The state has become more repressive and intolerant since Ebrahim Raisi came to power. He has been part of the establishment for decades. He was head of the judiciary when we had the 2019 protests and protesters were killed and tortured.

From the beginning of this year until September 10, at a conservative estimate, at least 400 people were sentenced to death and executed. There has been an escalation in human rights violations. It is shocking that Iran has more than 80 crimes punishable by death. Offender children were executed, as the law allows.

This scenario has changed during the pandemic.? There were questions about the mismanagement of the crisis. Iranians claimed that, due to sanctions, they were not able to serve the population. I have always campaigned for easing sanctions, particularly on humanitarian grounds, but the authorities had a fundamental responsibility.

In early 2021, the Supreme Leader said he would refuse to accept vaccines from countries like the US or UK. And that led to unnecessary deaths. Iran was one of the Middle Eastern countries that suffered the most. Anyone who tried to question Covid policy was sent to prison.

You speak of the low effectiveness of sanctions. How can the international community press for changes? We have to be united on certain issues. Women’s rights, in particular, are values ​​that must never be violated. There are many countries and traditions that apply cultural or religious relativism, and this is not acceptable.

If we unite, Iranian officials will have to accept that violence is not acceptable. Stoning to death for adultery for women is still provided for in the Penal Code, for example. But pressure has led to a moratorium a few years ago.

Sanctions can and have had a negative impact, especially on the right to health, but I do not see them as a definitive solution to reform the system.

So you think that the wave of mobilization will It is made? The authorities never expected a person’s death to generate this. To their surprise, the world reacted. I hope we can change the lives of millions of suffering women in Iran. We must not rest, this death cannot have been in vain.

Something good will come out of this tragedy. I believe that people will begin to question this authoritarian, extremist and intolerant regime. They will say: no, Islam does not allow that. No religion allows this.

Mahsa Amini was Kurdish. How important is this factor? The Kurdish people have been the target of this brutality and repression for decades and feel very strongly the injustice of the system. There are a disproportionate number of Kurds executed every year. The State represses their right to language, education, freedom. The fact that Amini is Kurdish adds the dimension of ethnic violence in Iran to the protests.

What other types of human rights violations have you observed as a special rapporteur? We see girls and women suffering all kinds of discrimination and violence. The law allows girls as young as 13 to get married. And even younger girls can also marry, with the permission of their father and a judge. Child marriage is forced, it destroys the child’s entire life.

On the issue of executions, there is also a gender-discriminatory element. The law says that a girl from the age of 9 and a boy from the age of 15 can be sentenced to death for certain offences. There are even parts of the Penal Code that exonerate the so-called honor killing, allowing women to be murdered.

The world was so shocked by the resumption of the Taliban in Afghanistan, while marginalizing what is happening in Iran. Countries like Afghanistan and Iran find religious excuses for gender discrimination. But this is absolutely wrong. It is just an excuse for certain groups of men who want to repress women and use violence against them.

Amini’s case also involves the involvement of the ‘moral police’. What do you think her? It has no role to play in a society that respects human rights. People should have the right to make decisions in moral matters. Women should have the right to choose whether or not to wear the hijab. The police should be helping society, promoting human rights, instead of increasing repression.

Have you been successful in your attempts at dialogue with the regime? I strongly believe in dialogue. We want positive change in Iran. I have asked for access, but they have not allowed me to visit Iran. I ask the international community to press for them to allow the visit to talk to people, visit prisons. Thus, my evaluation will carry even more weight.


x-ray | Javaid Rehman

The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran since 2018, he is a professor at Brunel University in London, where he teaches courses on international law and Islamic law.

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