22nd of Khordaad
Statement of a Group of Equal Rights Defenders in Commemoration of 22nd of Khordaad
Change for Equality: Last year’s commemoration of the 22nd of Khordad (June 12th, 2006), in the form of a peaceful protest in Haft-e Tir Square, which was organized to mark the day of solidarity of Iranian women, was witness to an important and historical development in the 100 year history of the Iranian women’s movement. The social environment of that time had, for a number of reasons, suffered from relative inactivity and disorientation and rendered women’s rights and civil society activists, as well as a large sector of the women’s movement, stagnate. With the support and collaboration of the student and worker’s movements, the commemoration of the 22nd of Khordaad (June 2006) in Haft-e Tir Square, in honor of the successful event held the previous year in front of Tehran University, not only managed to shatter this stagnation and inactivity but it was successful in reminding us of the need for the women’s movement to continue its efforts beyond political differences and factionalism. Further and most important, this peaceful protest was successful in allowing the demands of women’s rights activists for equal rights to reach the general public.
On the other hand, despite the expectations of some, this event, not only did not result in loss of support and involvement of activists in the women’s movement, but served as a catalyst in promoting unity among different groups within the women’s movement. More importantly, the protest of 22nd of Khordaad in Haft-e Tir Square, created an opportunity for new forces to join the women’s movement, and served as a vehicle for the creation and start of the "One Million Signatures Campaign," which seeks to collect signatures with a view toward ending legal discrimination against women. With the start of activities within this grassroots Campaign, and utilizing proactive and innovative approaches, the demands of the women’s movement found expression in a broader framework, penetrating into different social groups. In fact, we could aptly claim that the peaceful demonstration on the 22nd of Khordaad (June 12, 2006) resulted in the expansion of the women’s movement.
Pressures Intensify; Costs Increase These positive achievements however have had negative consequences for many women’s rights activists. After the peaceful protest in Hafte Tir Square in June of 2006, and the birth of the "One Million Signatures Campaign," those opposed to women’s equal rights did not remain inactive. In the past year alone, we have witnessed and endured increased arrests of women’s rights defenders, unfair accusations and charges, serial summons and interrogations, imposition of high bond and bail amounts in exchange for the freedom of our colleagues, and heavy prison sentences for women’s rights defenders. In fact, the past year was witness to the arrest and imprisonment of 121 women’s rights activists. Nearly one billion tomans (roughly 110 million dollars) in bail and personal guarantees intended to free women’s rights activists from prison have been posted. In total, 14 years of suspended probationary prison sentences and nearly 9 years of prison sentences which must be served by women’s rights defenders have been issued.
Of course, we had anticipated that as the discourse on women’s rights and demands of the women’s movement expanded and penetrated society, the pressures, limitations and negative consequences of such demands would increase on equal rights defenders proportionately—pressures imposed by some power holders who see the just demands of women’s rights advocates as contradictory to their own interests. These pressures have been imposed on women’s rights activists with a view toward isolating them and forcing into the private sphere. But these tactics have not been limited to women’s rights activists alone rather they have targeted women from all walks of life, and have been dispensed in a planned and organized manner. It seems that these pressures are not solely limited to women’s protest gatherings but are doled out to women, in retaliation to their increased agency, their increased self confidence and their increased demands, designed to improve their own lives.
The massive arrest of women, under the guise of a program commonly referred to as "the program to combat poor hejab" has moved the issue of women’s imprisonment beyond the small circle of women’s rights defenders into a broad segment of society and now threatens ordinary women, who because of simple differences in their style of dress, has made them fair game for a massive assault by police forces. According to published reports 14,635 women in various areas around the country have been arrested under the "program to combat poor hejab" and 67,000 women have received warnings about their style of dress. It seems that the aims of such violent crackdowns are to incrementally instill fear in the hearts of women, with a view toward driving away from the public arena. In other words, these types of programs aim to push women back into their homes, and do indeed promise to hold for our society tragic consequences.
Obstruction of Social Movements The Student movement too, which has benefited from the increased activity and impact of female students and as a result has become more lively and feminine creating stronger bonds and connections with the women’s movement, has faced from the start of this academic year multiple problems. In the past year, the university system has witnessed the increased relegation of female students to their homes, through the implementation of a quota program, which seeks to decrease the number of female students entering into university. This program, which justifies its actions by claiming that female students (currently at over 60%) are taking up spaces which rightfully belong to male students, is in essence a program designed to drive women out of the higher education system.
At the same time, student activists have faced a broad security crackdown, including: creation of cases against some politically active masters’ students by marking them as "Starred Students" and thus preventing many of them from registering for courses; prevention of free elections within student organizations through the employment of a variety of tactics designed to threaten and limit student activist; and the obstruction of educational, social and cultural activities implemented by student organizations, including the implementation of programs in commemoration of March 8th, International Women’s Day.
In the last month especially we have witnessed an intensified crackdown, including at times physical violence, against student activists. More than 100 students have been called into University disciplinary committees, or have faced suspension from university, or like Mahdieh Golrou, Mandana Chatrechi, Fahimeh Shojaie, Hamideh Hosseini, Maryam Seyed Karimi and Asal Akhavan, have been prevented from entering university grounds, or like Sedighe Bigleri have been prevented access to recreational facilities. On the other hand, the rape of a female student in Kermanshah, by university officials, instills fear among female university students, forcing to dread the possibility that they too may in fact face such retaliations. Additionally, the arrest and imprisonment of several editors of student publications, has brought under assault the sense of security of students more than ever before, and created a new crisis within academic circles. Under the delusional pretense of possible conspiracies devised foreign powers which seek to take advantage of university personnel, professors too are coming under attack by security forces.
It is not just the women’s and student movements which have faced violent crackdowns. In fact, in response to their professional demands, teachers too have come under attack during the past year. Female teachers, like Soraya Darabi and Tayebe Mirzaie have been imprisoned for simply demanding higher wages and other hardworking and learned educators are facing summons to court and interrogations, and have had to put up hefty bail amounts to ensure their release from prison.
Members of the labor unions and their families too are suffering from violence and security crackdowns. For these workers who have only expressed professional demands and have demanded increased wages, heavy prison sentences too have been issued, including a 5 year prison sentence for Mansour Osanlou. Many others have been dismissed from their place of employment. It is clear that the heavy burden of these crackdowns and dismissals are felt most severely by the women in these families.
It seems that some power holders, instead of ensuring women equal rights under law, have chosen to dispense their violent crackdowns against all social actors equally. For example, of the four people with dual nationality arrested on various charges, two of them are women. Nazi Azima has been prevented from the leaving the country for several months and Haleh Esfandiari is spending time in prison without access to her lawyer.
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