IRANIAN WOMEN TAKE UP BANNER OF REFORM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 IRAN RPO DUBAI 000017

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/28/2017
TAGS: IR PGOV PHUM
SUBJECT: IRANIAN WOMEN TAKE UP BANNER OF REFORM

REF: 2006 IRAN RPO DUBAI 0009

RPO DUBAI 00000017 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Jillian Burns, Director, Iran Regional Presence
Office, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (d)

1.(SBU) Summary: Iranian women's rights activists are emerging
as the country's most assertive dissident force, eclipsing most
other key pro-reform constituencies in Iran. During the Khatami
presidency from 1997-2005, students and journalists constituted
the leading edge of reform and political activism. With some
exceptions, women adopted quieter tactics during that time to
promote change in the Iranian legal system's treatment of women.
Since early 2006, however, women's rights activists in Iran
have become increasingly vocal and visible, resisting the new
administration's efforts to stymie the voice of civil society.
These women have a clear and specific agenda -- legal reform to
end laws that they consider discriminatory to women. Their
efforts are now at the forefront of the reform movement in Iran,
and they are bearing the brunt of the Iranian government's
efforts to contain civil society. End summary.

Recent history of women's rights in Iran
--------------

2.(SBU) The fate of the women's rights movement in Iran is
currently at the forefront of civil society in Iran in general.
Under President Khatami, the women's movement scored an
important victory. Following months of efforts, the reformist
sixth Majles approved the UN Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on June 23,

2003. However, the conservative Guardian Council vetoed
adoption of CEDAW, saying it violated both Iranian and Islamic
law.

3.(SBU) Since August 2005, the Ahmadi-Nejad administration,
which fears that an active civil society will produce a "velvet
revolution" in Iran, has cracked down strongly on intellectuals,
scholars, journalists, and non-governmental organizations inside
the country. The crackdown gained steam with the April 2006
arrest of prominent intellectual Ramin Jahanbegloo, following
his travel to the US and other countries for academic
conferences and research.

4.(SBU) The government's efforts, however, have not stifled
activism on the part of women's groups, although these activists
have also suffered harassment, travel bans, and arrests as a
result. Though many activists continued their efforts,
relatively little was heard about the women's rights movement in
Iran until early 2006. On March 8, 2006, security forces
disrupted a rally to celebrate International Women's Day in
Tehran. They used force to disperse demonstrators, bringing
greater international attention to the women's rights movement
in Iran. Women's rights activists later organized a
demonstration on June 12 in Tehran to call for reform of the
Iranian legal system. Again, security forces forcibly disrupted
the June demonstration and arrested several demonstrators. The
women were protesting laws that state, for example, that a
woman's life and her court testimony are worth half that of a
man's, and that married women cannot obtain divorces, custody of
their children after the age of seven, or travel outside the
country without their husband's permission. Iranian law also
states that death by stoning is the appropriate punishment for
adultery.

5.(SBU) Women's groups are also increasingly using petitions as
a method to protest and draw international attention to key
women's rights issues. In late 2006, women's groups in Iran
began a petition calling for an end to the practice of stoning,
and other petitions protesting specific cases of stoning
convictions were also circulated. A petition campaign entitled
"One Million Signatures Demanding Changes to Discriminatory
Laws" was also launched in August 2006. Campaigners intend to
go door-to-door to obtain the referenced million signatures for
their petition. One benefit of this tactic, campaigners say, is
that it will increase awareness among Iranian women about their
legal status, even if some women do not sign the petition.

The women's rights movement in 2007
--------------

6.(C) Five women's rights activists -- Nooshin Ahmadi Khorasani,
Parvin Ardalan, Shahla Entesari, Sussan Tahmasebi (who also
holds US citizenship),and Fariba Davoodi Mohajer -- were later
put on trial for organizing the June 2006 demonstration. The
five women are also organizing members of the "One Million
Signatures" campaign. They are charged with "acting against
national security." (Note: Fariba Davoodi Mohajer was in the US
at the time of the court date and thus escaped arrest. Endnote)
Their trial date was set for March 4, 2007, only four days,

RPO DUBAI 00000017 002.2 OF 002


before International Women's Day. Many observers speculated
that the trial date was chosen deliberately to deter another
rally. Women's groups organized a rally in 2007 nonetheless,
which was mired with similar violence against demonstrators.

7.(U) On the day of the trial, women's groups held a
demonstration outside of the courthouse, to show solidarity with
the women on trial. Police used force to disperse demonstrators
and arrested several of them. When the women being tried
protested the treatment of the demonstrators, they too were
arrested. Khorasani, Ardalan, Entesari, and Tahmasebi were taken
to Evin prison, along with 29 arrested demonstrators; a total of
33 arrested. Domestic press reports indicate that 30 of the
women were detained for less than a week, and then released.
Authorities held three prominent activists -- Shadi Sadr,
Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, and Jila Baniyaghoub -- until the
final days of the Iranian year 1385, which ended March 21, 2007.

Travel bans and NGO closures
--------------


8. (SBU) On January 26, 15 women journalists were detained by
authorities as they attempted to travel to India for an
educational workshop on journalism. Three of the women were
taken to Evin prison and held for 24 hours, and are reported to
be facing trial in April on charges of "acting against national
security" by planning to participate in the journalism workshop.
The women were reportedly interrogated about their possible
connections with organizations that have received foreign
funding.


9. (U) In late March, three prominent NGOs -- Iran CSOs Training
and Research Center (ICTRC),Raahi Legal Center, and
Non-Governmental Organizations Training Center -- were shut down
by the government. The latter two NGOs were founded by Shadi
Sadr and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh respectively, two of the
activists arrested March 4.

10.(C) Comment: The government's paranoia of a velvet revolution
orchestrated by the West is part of its motivation for
pressuring civil society in Iran, including the women's
movement. Another motivation is clashes on religious grounds
between the conservative government and the more liberal women's
movement, as evidenced by Ahmadi-Nejad's immediate step to
reorient the women's affairs office established by Khatami to a
family issues office. The government's efforts to silence this
movement are also consistent with an overall strategy of
increasing "unity and solidarity" among the public (i.e.
suppressing dissent) in the face of increasing international
pressure over its nuclear program.

11.(C) Comment cont'd: It is also worth noting that in contrast
to most other countries in the region, women in Iran are not
fighting for rights they have never had. Rather, they are
fighting in part to regain rights they enjoyed prior to the 1979
Islamic revolution. It is unclear how significant of a
constituency the arrested women represent; while anecdotal
reports suggest that dissatisfaction with the Islamic Republic's
policies on women's issues is widespread, only a very small
percentage of Iranian women have actively engaged in efforts to
confront the government. However, even if they represent only a
small elite, the women's activists currently under fire in Iran
could play a critical role in mobilizing a more assertive reform
movement in Iran through their linkages with other reform actors
and the broad societal sympathy toward their aims.
BURNS