Physical and Spiritual Execution of Entrepreneurs in Iran

History

On February 24, 1979, Sadegh Khalkhali was appointed to establish the Islamic Revolutionary Court. The text of the decree read as follows:

Hajj Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali is hereby commissioned to preside over a court formed for the trial of defendants and prisoners, and after completing the preliminaries of the trial in accordance with Islamic law, to issue religious judgments.

Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini

Executions in Iran After the 1979 Revolution took the form of widespread executions for various crimes and pretexts, primarily by the verdict of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court. These courts were established by order of Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini, and Sadegh Khalkhali played a prominent role in carrying them out.

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When a great entrepreneur dies, it is as if a treasury of inspiration and a light of hope somewhere in our land has died. In these turbulent times, with the death of each entrepreneur, it seems that many of our workers lose their job security and the light of hope is extinguished in many households, and new unemployed are added to our ranks of jobless.

An entrepreneur is not chaff scattered by the wind or water unmoved by a wave. Rather, he is a fruitful palm tree that, if it falls, condemns many to bitterness. No entrepreneur is a seed that, once fallen to the ground, easily sprouts as a fresh sapling. Rather, years and years must pass so that “clouds and wind and fog and sun and sky” work together for a single entrepreneur to emerge from among the vast multitude of a nation’s citizens, actualizing the hidden potential capabilities dormant in the minds and arms of other human beings.

Spiritual Execution of Musa Khani

The late Musa Khani was one of these lofty and fruitful palms that fell to the ground in the storm of recent events and the scorching winds that blew from the political world toward our economy.

We have never seen him up close, but we have heard descriptions of his work and learned that we were dealing with a great entrepreneur. Because what he built was built from nothing; because forty years ago he started from being a worker in a small cake-making workshop, but he aimed to build a great economic empire. He gazed toward open and expansive horizons and was able to free his neck from the constraints of traditional and conservative management methods. In a land where everyone is bound to their hometown and region, he migrated to Isfahan and transformed a foreign land into a familiar one, and he accomplished such deeds that captivated every eye. He founded two units of the largest economic institutions in the province in the food industry sector and created thousands of jobs.

Unfortunately, like all the misfortunes and calamities that the political world has brought to this country, in the ups and downs of governments, instabilities, and sometimes the lawlessness resulting from the wheel of time, Musa Khani too was caught in the destructive storm of turmoil in Iran’s economic and political conditions. First his leaves fell, then his branches were broken, and then his sturdy body fell to the ground. Undoubtedly, Musa Khani, like any other person, made mistakes in his economic decisions. But there is a difference between a society that rises to support its entrepreneur when he makes a mistake and faces difficulties, and a society that, when its entrepreneur makes a wrong decision or faces difficulties in the course of time and his flourishing period ends, not only abandons him but also throws stones in the path of his salvation. Yes, if a few years ago, when the administrative council of Isfahan province had set aside a share of the rescue budget for troubled enterprises for him, they had not acted with narrow-mindedness and political maneuvering, and if the council’s resolution had been implemented, perhaps now Musa Khani and Musa Khani’s industry would still be alive. And this was the very Musa Khani who, throughout forty years of his economic activity, founded and supported dozens of charitable institutions. But when he himself needed the helping hand of others, we abandoned him.

Musa Khani, enduring the harsh winds of destructive events that have blown in these years, became a symbol of the oppression of entrepreneurship in this land. The entrepreneurs of this land are oppressed because there are still those who do not understand the difference between an innovative entrepreneur and an insatiable rent-seeker or a wealthy aristocrat. They are oppressed because they see no helping hand around them, only hands that either seek help or demand. They are oppressed because many of our government officials still do not know that the primary capital for economic advancement in any country, especially our recession-ridden economy, is risk-taking, patient, and innovative entrepreneurs, not oil and gas resources and colorful mines that intoxicate them with pride and blind them from attention to the treasures hidden among citizens. Therefore, an entrepreneur should not be measured by the value of money and should not be held guilty for failures that are largely caused by instabilities and poor macroeconomic management of the country. They are oppressed because our children know the names of many domestic and international actors, singers, and footballers, but we have not instilled the name of a single Iranian entrepreneur in their minds. They are oppressed because in a world where everyone has grown accustomed to smallness, we cannot bear great people. They are oppressed because in an age when legendary corruptions appear successively, distinguishing a true entrepreneur from a corrupt rent-seeker is most difficult.

They are oppressed because our tax system still has not realized that entrepreneurs bear the heavy burden of workers’ unemployment benefits on their shoulders instead of the government’s. They are oppressed because our insurance and banking system still does not know that in times of economic recession, they should support entrepreneurs, not increase pressure to recover entrepreneurs’ debts and imprison them. They are oppressed because our judiciary does not know that imprisoning an entrepreneur is like destroying an ancient artifact for which years and enormous costs have been spent in its construction. They are oppressed because, contrary to the rest of the world, bankruptcy law in this land has become a neglected, formal, and ineffective law, and consequently has ensured that when an entrepreneur fails in his risky path, he is doomed to destruction and will not be allowed to start again. They are oppressed because our people still, in their judgment of them, make no distinction between negligence and fault, and when an entrepreneur fails, instead of pointing the finger of accusation at the external circumstances and factors that have driven the entrepreneur to failure, they point it at the entrepreneur himself. They are oppressed because our governments inject their political purposes into their dealings with entrepreneurs.

And finally, our entrepreneurs are oppressed because our universities still do not feel responsible to prepare the ground for public opinion to advance entrepreneurs toward blessed horizons, nor do they use their knowledge to correct and strengthen entrepreneurs’ performance. Let us not forget that eighty years have passed since the establishment of our university system, yet we have not established a single program for teaching, strengthening, and advising entrepreneurs.

May the soul of the late Musa Khani rest in peace, for in the course of his entrepreneurial activity he experienced and suffered in silence all of these social, political, legal, and scientific disorders and deficiencies until death granted him relief. We regard him as a symbol of the oppression of entrepreneurship in Iran. Let there be no doubt that as long as the system of governance in this country does not think of ways and does not design mechanisms to support, rehabilitate, and celebrate entrepreneurs like the late Musa Khani, entrepreneurship in this land will not take root. Be assured that as long as we do not rehabilitate and celebrate this economic fighter like the late Musa Khani and do not erect his statue in the square of our city or name a street after him, entrepreneurship in this land will never take root. May his soul be at peace and his path be filled with followers.

Physical Execution of Farkhrou Parsa

Farkhrou Parsa, who was born in 1922 in Qom, was initially a biology teacher and later completed her studies in medicine. During the tenure of Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda, she was appointed as Minister of Education. She improved the condition of education in Iranian schools and the education of Iranian girls.

On Thursday, May 8, 1980, the Kayhan newspaper wrote: “At half past one this morning, Farkhrou Parsa was shot.”

In late January 1980, Farkhrou Parsa was arrested. The Revolutionary Court, presided over by Sadegh Khalkhali, tried her on charges such as “causing corruption in the Ministry of Education and assisting in the spread of immorality in education and effective cooperation with SAVAK and expelling revolutionary educators from Iran’s Ministry of Culture” and sentenced her to death.

The Revolutionary Court referenced SAVAK documents and alleged that Farkhrou Parsa had criticized the hijab of female school managers in a gathering of religious school managers and insulted hijab-wearing managers. Farkhrou Parsa denied this allegation and said: “In that meeting, I spoke about women’s hijab, saying that the hijab should not prevent women’s social activities. At that time, girls in religious schools did not participate in sports activities at all. In all my circulars, I invited women to wear heavy clothes and observe hijab.”

Another charge against her was an attempt to remove religious instruction books and Quranic education from Iranian schools. In response to this charge, Farkhrou Parsa had said: “At that time, people like Dr. Mohammad Javad Bahonar and Ayatollah Barqei were invited to cooperate with this ministry in preparing and translating religious instruction and Quranic lessons and to prepare the necessary books.”

Before her execution, in her will, she wrote: “The court makes a great distinction between women and men. I hope the future will be better for women.”

Ritual washers refused to wash the body of Farkhrou Parsa, who had been executed as a “corrupter of the earth.” The women of her family washed her body. Three bullets had struck beneath her chest and exited through the back of her body.

Physical Execution of Mah-Afreed Amir-Khorouvi

(Born 1969 in Rudbar, Gilan – Died June 24, 2014 in Evin Prison), also known as Amir Mansoor Aria, in September 2011 was accused of embezzling several thousand billion tomans (2800 or 3000 billion tomans), which is said to have been the largest embezzlement in Iranian history.

In a report, he was listed as the 290th richest person in the world. Mah-Afreed Amir-Khorouvi’s initial activities began with managing cattle ranching with his brothers in 2005 and 2006. He, who had been in military service until 1993, had established this livestock unit using quick-return plans. Continuation of his activities was accompanied by misuse of these loans, leading to financial corruption. Also, the initial capital of “Amir Mansoor Aria Investment Development Company” on June 18, 2006 was equal to 50 million tomans, which according to the company’s board meeting minutes dated November 30, 2008, increased to 20 billion tomans.

Amir Mansoor Aria Investment Development Company, in 2010, in line with implementing Article 44 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, through suspicious measures, was able to acquire 94.96% of the shares of Lorestan Machine Manufacturing, 95.2% of Iran Steel Group shares, 95% of Railway Technical Engineering and Construction shares (Traverse), and 39.5% of Aksin Steel Khuzestan shares.

Some of the subsidiary companies of “Amir Mansoor Aria Investment Development” are as follows:

The Amir-Khorouvi brothers, named Mah-Afreed, Mehrgan, Masoud, and Mardavieh, are the principal members forming this group.

Similarly, the wives of the four brothers mentioned above, respectively named Sara Khosravi, Touba Abdullahzadeh Siahkali, Farshideh Tahavildari Akbari, and Soraya Afsardi, participated in economic activities and particularly in company stock ownership, and therefore the assets of these individuals have been confiscated and frozen by the country’s judiciary. Mehrgan Amir-Khorouvi and his wife Touba Abdullahzadeh Siahkali have been living in Montreal, Canada since last summer and hoped to obtain permanent residence in this country, but Canada’s immigration office rejected this couple’s residency application.

He obtained the approval of the Central Bank in late 2010 to establish a bank named “Aria Bank” and in March of that year began underwriting and then publishing recruitment advertisements. However, in August 2011, the Central Bank revoked the bank’s operating license.

Embezzlement

He was the principal accused in the embezzlement of three thousand billion tomans from Bank Saderat Iran and was arrested on August 6, 2011.

Special Facilities

Another charge against him was the use of 400 billion tomans in facilities from Bank Melli, which were provided without any documents or collateral. This amount is separate from embezzlement due to opening letters of credit.

Land Usurpation

230 hectares of land on Kish Island and hundreds of hectares of land in Kashanak, Tehran, were placed at his disposal at the price of 16 rials per square meter.

Finally, after the court issued its verdict, in the early morning of June 3, 2014, the death sentence of Mah-Afreed Khosravi was carried out. Accordingly, the General and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office of Tehran announced that the death sentence of the convicted prisoner Mah-Afreed Amir-Khorouvi, son of Mansoor, was carried out early Saturday morning, June 3, 2014, at Evin Prison. This sentence was carried out three days after Mah-Afreed Khosravi’s lawyer reported his letter to Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Considering these charges and such economic progress, as well as the immediate and uninterrupted execution, it is clear that the interests and secrets of government officials were in danger. And all of us must know that such actions are exclusive to a corrupt regime that, by making playthings of capitalists and entrepreneurs, carries out large-scale embezzlement and rent-seeking in such a way that there remains no trace of the regime’s government officials and corrupt governance.

Accused of Embezzlement in Iran

• Mah-Afreed Amir-Khorouvi

Kh

• Mahmoudreza Khavari
• Fazel Khodadad

R

• Morteza Rafighdoost

K

• Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi

N

• Nasser Vaez-Tabasi

Executions in Iran During the Islamic Republic

A

• Hassan Azerfer
• Asghar Arasteeh

A

• Mahdi Islamian
• Ali Ashtari
• Ashraf Chahar-Cheshmeh
• Execution of Political Prisoners (Summer 1988)
• Jamshid A’alam
• Bahram Afzali
• Farhad Vakili
• Habibollah Qananian
• Fathollah Omid Najafabadi
• Ali-Asghar Amirani
• Mah-Afreed Amir-Khorouvi
• Shahram Amiri

B

• Mansoor Bagherian
• Pari Balande
• Mahdi Balighe
• Zahra Bahrami
• Manouchehr Behzadi
• Bije
• Bijan Iran-Nejad

P

• Yousef Pour-Razzaei
• Farkhrou Parsa
• Mohammad Pour-Hormozgan
• Hassan Pakrowan
• Shakar-Allah Pak-Nejad

J

• Shahla Jahed
• Reyhaneh Jabbari
• Majid Jamali-Fashi
• Nader Jahanbani

H

• Mohammad-Ali Haj-Aghaei
• Habibollah Ashoori
• Ali Hejjat Kashani
• Hussein Ahmadi Rouhani
• Saeed Hanai
• Ali Haidarian

Kh

• Khafash Shab
• Habib Khabiri
• Fazel Khodadad
• Rahim-Ali Kharam
• Manouchehr Khosrodad
• Hussein Khazari

D

• Delara Darabi
• Gholam-Hossein Daneshi

R

• Amir-Hossein Rabiee
• Aatefe Rajabi Sohaile
• Arash Rahmanipour
• Yahya Rahimi
• Abdollah Riazati
• Abdol-Hamid Rigi

Z

• Siamak Zaaem

S

• Hossein Sodmand
• Nasser Sobhani
• Jalal Sejadaei
• Manouchehr Malik
• Mohammad-Reza Saadat
• Javad Saeed
• Saeed Sultan-Pour
• Manouchehr Salimi
• Sohrab Ghollami
• Seyyed Saeed Mahdioun

Sh

• Rahim Shams
• Taghi Shahram

S

• Ali Sarami

A

• Abdollah Khajeh-Nouri
• Houshang Atarian
• Mohammad-Ali Alameh Vahidi
• Shirin Elmholi
• Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani

F

• Ehsan Fatahian
• Fathi Brothers
• Farajollah Seifi-Kumanger
• Farkhzad Jahangiri
• Abdollah Farivar Moghadam
• Fridoon Towangari

Q

• Khosrow Qashqai
• Sadegh Ghotbzadeh

K

• Kazem Afjehei
• Jafar Kazemi
• Bijan Kabiri
• Farzad Kumanger

G

• Akbar Goodarzi

M

• Majid Kavousifor
• Mohsen Amir-Aslani
• Ayat Mohagheghi
• Mona Mahmoudnejad
• Mohammad Heravi
• Mohammad-Mehdi Dozdoozani
• Fatema Modarresi
• Mard Zellei
• Shirko Maaref
• Massoumeh Shadmani
• Ahmad Masoomi Koohsefhani
• Nasser Moghadam
• Ali-Reza Mala-Soltan
• Soraya Manouchehri
• Yaghob Mehrnehad
• Farajollah Mizani

N

• Ali Neshat
• Nemat-Allah Nasiri
• Zhinus Nemat Mahmoudi
• Gholam-Reza Nik-Pey
• Parviz Nik-Khah

H

• Rahman Hatefi
• Seyyed Mehdi Hashemi (Pasdari)
• Amir-Abbas Hoveyda
• Heybet-Allah Moini Chaghraven

Y

• Fasih Yasmani

Executions of Pahlavi Government Officials

By the verdict of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court and by order of Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini and presided over by Sadegh Khalkhali, after the 1979 revolution, a wave of executions of leaders and affiliates of the previous government began, the initial purpose of which was said to be dealing with the crimes of Pahlavi government leaders. These executions generally provoked severe reactions from international communities and especially Amnesty International.

On February 16, 1979, the first group of leaders of the previous regime, which included four generals of the Iranian Imperial Army, were sentenced to death by a court order of the Revolutionary Court presided over by Sadegh Khalkhali. According to Amnesty International’s report, from the triumph of the revolution until March 1980, 438 people were executed by the Revolutionary Court.

Execution of Baha’is

From the beginning of the 1979 revolution in Iran until now, more than 202 Baha’is have been executed by the Islamic government because of their belief in the Baha’i faith or its promotion and propaganda.

1988 Summer Executions

The execution of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 was an event during which, by order of Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini, several thousand political and ideological prisoners in the prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the months of August and September 1988 were secretly executed and buried in mass graves. In general, the crime of the prisoners was deemed to be cooperation with organizations opposed to the Islamic Republic, particularly the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran as well as various leftist, communist, and Marxist groups. The number of victims of this event varies among different sources and is estimated between 3,000 and 4,482 people. The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights reported the number of executed political prisoners to be at least 1,879 people.

Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Throughout the Islamic Republic of Iran’s rule, except for one or two years, the UN General Assembly has issued a resolution almost every year regarding human rights violations by the Islamic Republic. In UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/64/176 released in April 2010, this assembly condemned Iran in many cases, including the government’s treatment of protesters against the results of Iran’s presidential election (2009). The Islamic Republic of Iran government strictly violates civil liberties, including freedom of speech, press, assembly, associations, and personal freedoms, and has obstructed religious freedoms.

Ethnic and Religious Minorities

More than 49 percent of Iran’s population consists of ethnic minorities. The Constitution grants all ethnic minorities equal rights and allows minority languages to be used in media, schools, and weekly radio and television programs. However, linguistic minorities have never been allowed to use their own languages in schools. A small number of minority groups wanted separation. Instead, they complained of economic and political discrimination. State radio and television broadcasts programs in different ethnic languages.

Sunni Muslims in Iran have more than 15,000 mosques, and currently there are 9 mosques for Sunnis in Tehran.

Non-Muslim Communities

During the final review session of the Islamic Republic’s Constitution, the debate over whether “should the official religion of the country be mentioned in the constitution?” ended in favor of Shiite Islamists. Eventually, Article 12 of Iran’s Constitution introduced “Islam and the Twelver Ja’fari School” as the official religion of the country, and it was deemed sufficient that other Islamic schools such as Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, Hanbali, and Zaydi could follow their own jurisprudence. Influential clerics at that time opposed requests from representatives of non-Muslim communities (such as Jews, Baha’is, and Zoroastrians) for their religions to be officially recognized as official religions of the country and insisted that non-Muslims should be considered under the status of “dhimma.” Finally, Article 13 of the Constitution was approved with only 6 opposing votes (four non-Muslim representatives and two other representatives). According to this article, Iranian Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are recognized only as religious minorities who are free to perform their religious rituals within the bounds of law and act according to their own traditions in personal status matters and religious education.

In the view of some, the mention of the stipulation “only religious minorities” in this article ultimately caused other religious communities (including Baha’is as the largest religious community in Iran after Muslims) to be deprived of recognized rights.

Article 881 Repeated of the Civil Code is the most controversial law in Iran regarding religious minorities. This article, which addresses the issue of inheritance, states: “A non-Muslim does not inherit from a Muslim, and if among the heirs of a deceased non-Muslim there is a Muslim, the heirs of the non-Muslim do not inherit; even if they are superior in class and degree to the Muslim.” In Iranian courts, religious minorities are subject to this article of law, and in inheritance cases they are considered among “non-believers.” However, this law is an opportunity for the abuse of opportunistic individuals.

In the Islamic Penal Code, if the victim is a Muslim, retaliation is considered for the murder, but in the same law, if the victim is a religious minority (non-Muslim), the punishment of the murderer is blood money. Among other differences and legal discrimination against non-Muslim citizens in Iran is the issue of testimony in court, where the testimony of non-Muslims against Muslims is not accepted.

The usurpation of endowments belonging to non-Muslim citizens in Iran and the destruction of their schools and the neglect of officials are other problems of non-Muslim Iranian citizens. After the triumph of the 1979 revolution, for years religious minorities were deprived of having their own schools. Opening remarks and detailed parliamentary records indicate repeated objections by their representatives in parliament. Even after these schools reopened, the appointment of Muslim individuals as school managers despite objections from religious minorities was another problem for this group of Iranians. A problem that years later still has not been completely resolved, and some schools of religious minorities are run by Muslim managers.

The sum of these issues has made it so that according to Robert Beglarian, representative of Southern Armenians in the seventh, eighth, and ninth sessions of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the most important challenge for religious minorities at present is the phenomenon of emigration.

Azerbaijanis

Iran’s current leader, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, is himself of Azerbaijani ethnicity and is from Khameneh and speaks Turkish. However, a minority of Azerbaijanis have always protested ethnic and linguistic discrimination, including the prohibition of teaching Azerbaijani in schools, harassment of Azerbaijani political activists, and changing Azerbaijani geographical names. In May 2007, widespread demonstrations were held in Azerbaijani-speaking cities of Iran in protest of a cartoon published by an Iranian newspaper, resulting in the arrest of 300 people and the killing of 4 demonstrators. Iranian government officials attributed the cause of these demonstrations to Israel. Abbas Banai Kazemi was sentenced to 16 months in prison for participating in these demonstrations.

Kurds

In March 2006, clashes between Kurds and law enforcement resulted in the deaths of three people and the arrest of 250 people. Clashes also occurred in June 2005, and protests and strikes in July and August 2005 followed the killing of a Kurdish activist by security forces. According to Human Rights Watch and other sources, security forces killed at least 17 people and arrested many others.

Arabs

After 3 explosions in 2005 and 2006 in Khuzestan Province, Iran, the Revolutionary Court issued a ruling announcing the execution of 11 Arabs in connection with the bombings. The government held foreign forces and governments responsible for this violence. Some human rights activists have stated that those accused of the explosions did not receive fair trials.

Jews

The Federation of Iranian-American Jews has stated that Iranian officials have provided no information regarding 11 Jewish men who disappeared in 1994 and 1997.

Iran’s educational system restricts Jewish children’s use of non-religious Jewish books and compels Jewish schools to remain open on Saturdays. There are limitations regarding Jewish advancement in professional occupations, particularly in the state apparatus.

Political Executions

After the 1979 revolution, a number of officials from Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s government were executed, and in the summer of 1988, a number of individuals from groups opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran were executed.

Criminal Executions

Amnesty International reported that in 2007, at least 24 people were executed weekly, and more than 64 people were sentenced to death. With 317 executions that year, Iran ranked second in this regard.

In 2008, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 70 to 80 criminals were awaiting execution. In 2005, a sixteen-year-old girl was executed in public in Neka city for what was called “unlawful sexual relations.”

Based on Islamic laws implemented in Iran, homosexuals, if homosexuality is proven, face execution, and judges can choose from five methods, including throwing the perpetrator from a height or collapsing a wall on them. The use of such methods has not been reported after the 1979 revolution, but a man in Qazvin Province was stoned to death for adultery.

Children’s Rights

Iran became a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994. However, some existing laws in Iran still contradict this convention.

Violence

According to Iran’s regulations, corporal punishment of a child by his father is permissible to the extent deemed appropriate, whereas Article 19 of the Child Rights Convention obligates states to protect children from any mistreatment by parents or guardians. According to Article 22 of the Islamic Penal Code, if a father or paternal grandfather kills his child, retaliation does not apply and he is only sentenced to blood money and discretionary punishment, but under similar circumstances, the mother will be sentenced to retaliation.

Education

Both the Constitution and the Regulation on Children’s Rights consider educating children to a certain age as mandatory, but a high percentage of Iranian children currently do not receive education due to economic difficulties. The lack of identity registration and statelessness of children who have an Afghan father and Iranian mother has prevented them from being able to register and study in any school without documentation, a deprivation that contradicts the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Homosexuals

There are no precise statistics on the number of homosexuals executed after the 1979 revolution in Iran, but human rights activists believe that more than four thousand men and women homosexuals have been executed in Iran since the 1979 revolution.

Male Homosexuals

Iranian laws sentence men who engage in same-sex sexual acts for the first time, if penetration has occurred, to various punishments, including execution. In cases where penetration has not occurred, these individuals receive a maximum of 100 lashes. According to Iran’s criminal laws, to prove sodomy, four confessions by the individual or testimony of four just male witnesses are required. However, judges can also accept circumstantial evidence.

Female Homosexuals

Women who engage in same-sex sexual acts (lesbianism) for the fourth time may be sentenced to death.

Privacy

In 2007, law enforcement arrested 150,000 people in a campaign against improper veiling and forced them to sign “commitment letters” to comply with dress codes according to government standards.

Also in that year, airport security police stopped more than 17,000 people who traveled through Iranian airports because of their attire and questioned them, and arrested 850 women and forced them to sign commitment letters. Another 130 people were prosecuted by judicial authorities.

Women’s Rights in Iran

The rights of Iranian women have undergone significant changes during various political and historical periods. These rights include the right to marriage, the right to divorce, the right to education, the right to dress and veiling, and health rights (such as reproductive rights, family planning, and abortion), the right to vote, and other rights.

According to the 2012 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum, Iran ranks 127th out of 135 countries regarding inequality between men and women, which is quite regrettable.