More commemoration of revolution in Iran?
Trying to read Grazia in Iran"A crackdown on Zanan, a popular woman's magazine, is symptomatic of wider suppression of free media in the country.
"Women's magazines notoriously come and go, operating in a volatile publishing market and sinking if they don't get the celeb/fashion/lifestyle mix right.
"Things are a little different in Iran. It would be true to say that Grazia and Elle are not widely read (or indeed available) in the Iranian republic. Until a year ago, however, one Iranian women's magazine was – Zanan (in Persian "women"), an award-winning monthly founded in 1992 by Shahla Sherkat.
"However, that was then. Last January, Sherkat was abruptly informed that Zanan's licence was to be cancelled. She was accused of 'offering a dark picture of the Islamic Republic through the pages of Zanan'...
"Iranian academics have been troubled by the suppression of what Dr Ziba Mir-Hosseini, from the centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, describes as a 'distinctive feminist voice in Iran'. Two features of Zanan's approach and style were novel, reckons Mir-Hosseini: it explored the case for women's rights as a distinct project in post-revolutionary Iran, and it promoted a brand of feminism stemming both from Islam (while not ignoring gender inequalities in many current interpretations of sharia) and western feminism...
"It seems that Zanan was finally judged too heady a mix by the ever-twitchy Iranian authorities. But it's not just Zanan that is currently under the cosh. On 21 December, the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (an NGO run by Shirin Ebadi, Iran's leading human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace prize winner) was raided and closed...
"Meanwhile, Iran's nationwide women's rights movement, the Campaign For Equality (CFE) continues to see its supporters suffering arbitrary arrest, detention, and raids on their homes and meetings. Even a Californian graduate student, Esha Momeni, found herself in trouble when on a recent visit to her family she attempted to research CFE for her thesis. She was arrested and has still not been able to leave Iran. The closure of Zanan and the crackdown on women's activists comes against a backdrop of wider suppression of free media in Iran. This week, leading international news websites like Deutsche Welle, the Farsi version of Radio France Internationale and the pan-Arab satellite station Al-Arabiya have had their websites blocked in the country and more than 50 pro-reform online publications and scores of internet cafes have been closed or threatened with closure. For good measure, the Iranian police have seized thousands of satellite dishes from homeowners..."
posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:27 AM
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Iran jails women's rights activist for protests
"Sentenced to three years in jail and 20 lashes
"An Iranian woman activist has started a three-year jail term for taking part in a protest in 2006 to demand more right for women in the Islamic republic, a fellow campaigner said Monday.
"Alieh Eghdamdoust was among 70 people arrested during the rally in Tehran, but this was the first prison sentence to be implemented, leading activist Sussan Tahmasebi said...
"Tahmasebi said about 47 activists had been detained in connection with the campaign, including three last Friday. Most were freed after a few days or weeks.
"Last Friday, Iran’s security forces detained three women’s rights activists as they gathered signatures in support of the campaign for gender equality in northern Tehran..."
Starting at Home, Iran’s Women Fight for Rights
"Increasing educational levels and the information revolution have contributed to creating a generation of women determined to gain more control over their lives, rights advocates say.
"Confronted with new cultural and legal restrictions after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, some young women turned to higher education as a way to get away from home, postpone marriage and earn social respect, advocates say. Religious women, who had refused to sit in classes with men, returned to universities after they were resegregated...
"Even for those women for whom college is not an option, the Internet and satellite television have opened windows into the lives of women in the West. 'Satellite has shown an alternative way of being,' said Syma Sayah, a feminist involved in social work in Tehran. 'Women see that it is possible to be treated equally with men.'
"Another sign of changing attitudes is the increasing popularity of books, movies and documentaries that explore sex discrimination, rights advocates say...
"Despite the gains they have made, women still face extraordinary obstacles. Girls can legally be forced into marriage at the age of 13. Men have the right to divorce their wives whenever they wish, and are granted custody of any children over the age of 7. Men can ban their wives from working outside the home, and can engage in polygamy...
"Women also face fierce resistance when they organize to change the law. The Campaign for One Million Signatures was founded in 2005, inspired by a movement in Morocco that led to a loosening of misogynist laws...
"But Iran’s government has come down hard on the group, charging many of its founders with trying to overthrow it..."
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