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:

His Eminence Ayatollah Hajj Sheikh Sadegh Khalkhali, may his blessings endure, is hereby commissioned to preside over a court to be established for the trial of defendants and prisoners, and after completing the preliminaries of trial in accordance with Islamic jurisprudence, to issue Islamic judgments.

Ruhollah al-Mousavi al-Khomeini

Executions in Iran Following the 1979 Revolution occurred in an extensive wave of executions for various crimes and pretexts, primarily by order of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Iran. These courts were established by order of Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini, and Sadegh Khalkhali played a prominent role in carrying them out.

…………………………………….

When a great entrepreneur dies, it is as though a reservoir of inspiration and a lamp of hope in some corner of 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 lamp of hope is extinguished in many homes, and new unemployed are added to the ranks of our jobless. An entrepreneur is not straw that blows away in the wind or water that does not disturb the surface. Rather, he is a fruitful palm tree that, if it falls, plunges many sweet-livelihood seekers into bitterness. No entrepreneur is a seed that, when it falls to earth, easily sprouts as a fresh sapling from his soil. Rather, it takes years and years for “clouds and wind and mist and sun and heaven to work” before from among the countless host of citizens of a country, an entrepreneur emerges and actualizes the potential capabilities hidden in the brain and arm of other human beings.

Spiritual Execution of Musa Khani

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

We have never seen him up close, but we have heard of his work and learned that we were dealing with a great entrepreneur. Because all that he built was built from nothing; because forty years ago he began as a worker in a small cake-making workshop but aimed to build a great economic empire. He looked to open and broad horizons and was able to free himself from the constraints of traditional and conservative management methods. In a land where everyone is bound to their hometown and province, he migrated to Isfahan and transformed a foreign land into a familiar one, and he did such work that captured everyone’s eye. He alone founded two units of the largest economic enterprises in the province in the field of food industries and created thousands of jobs.

Unfortunately, like all the misadventures and misfortunes that the world of politics has brought to this country, in the rise and fall of governments and the instability and sometimes lawlessness resulting from this turn of events, 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 robust body fell to the ground. Undoubtedly, Musa Khani, like every other person, made mistakes in his economic decisions. But there is a difference between a society that, when its entrepreneur makes a mistake and falls into difficulties, rises to support him, and a society that, when its entrepreneur makes a wrong decision or encounters difficulties in the course of time and his flourishing period comes to an end, 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 budget for rescuing troubled enterprises for him, they had not been narrow-minded and engaged in political maneuvering, and if the council’s decision had been implemented, perhaps Musa Khani and Musa Khani’s industry would still be alive today. And this was the same Musa Khani who during forty years of his economic activity established and supported dozens of charitable institutions. But when he himself needed the helping hand of others, we abandoned him.

Musa Khani, by enduring the tempests of destructive events that blew in these years, became a symbol of the victimization of entrepreneurship in this land. Entrepreneurs in this land are victimized because there are still those who do not distinguish between an innovative entrepreneur and an insatiable rent-seeker or a wealthy aristocrat. They are victimized because they see no helping hands around them, but only hands either seeking help or making demands. They are victimized because many of our officials still do not know that the main capital for economic advancement in any country, especially our stagnant economy, is risk-taking, patient, and innovative entrepreneurs, not oil and gas resources and colorful mineral deposits that intoxicate them with pride and make them oblivious to the treasures hidden among citizens. Therefore, an entrepreneur should not be measured by the value of money and should not be held responsible for failures that are largely a result of instability and poor macro-economic management of the country. They are victimized because our children know the names of many actors, singers, and domestic and international football players, but we have not instilled in their minds the name of any Iranian entrepreneur. They are victimized because in a world where everyone has become accustomed to smallness, we cannot tolerate great people. They are victimized because in an age when fabulous corruptions appear in succession, distinguishing a true entrepreneur from a corrupt rent-seeker is very difficult.

They are victimized because our tax system still has not realized that entrepreneurs bear the heavy burden of unemployment benefits on behalf of governments and place it on their own shoulders. They are victimized because our insurance and banking system still does not know that during economic recession they should support entrepreneurs rather than increase pressure to recover entrepreneurs’ debts and ground them, prosecute them, and imprison them. They are victimized because our judiciary does not know that imprisoning an entrepreneur is like destroying an ancient artifact on which years and enormous costs have been spent to build. They are victimized because, contrary to the entire world, the bankruptcy law in this land has become an abandoned, formal, and ineffective law, and as a result, when an entrepreneur fails on his risky path, he is doomed to destruction and will not be allowed to start again. They are victimized because our people in their judgment of them still do not distinguish between fault and culpability, and if an entrepreneur fails, instead of pointing the finger of accusation at the conditions and external factors that led the entrepreneur to failure, they point it at the entrepreneur himself. They are victimized because our governments inject their political purposes into their dealings with entrepreneurs.

And finally, our entrepreneurs are victimized because our universities still do not feel the responsibility to pave and prepare the ground of public opinion for entrepreneurs to advance toward blessed horizons, and do not apply their knowledge toward correcting and strengthening entrepreneurial performance. Let us not forget that eighty years have passed since the establishment of our university system, yet we have not established a single field 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 all the suffering of these social, political, legal, and scientific disorders and shortcomings on his person and bore them unjustly and in silence until death granted him relief. We know him as a symbol of the victimization of entrepreneurship in Iran. Let there be no doubt that as long as the system of governance in this country does not think of measures for supporting, rehabilitating, and honoring entrepreneurs like the late Musa Khani, and does not design a mechanism, entrepreneurship in this land will not take root. Let us be certain that as long as we do not rehabilitate and honor the economic fighter like the late Musa Khani and do not erect his statue in the town square or name a street after him, entrepreneurship will never take root in this land. May his soul rest in peace and his path be well-traveled.

Physical Execution of Farkhrou Parsa

Farkhrou Parsa, who was born in Qom in 1922, was initially a biology teacher and later completed his education in medicine, and during the premiership of Amir Abbas Hoveyda was appointed as Minister of Education. He improved the state of education in Iranian schools and education for Iranian girls.

On Thursday, May 8, 1980, the Kayhan newspaper wrote: “At one-thirty in the morning today Farkhrou Parsa was shot.”

In late February 1980, Farkhrou Parsa was arrested. The Revolutionary Court, under the presidency of Sadegh Khalkhali, tried him on charges such as “creating corruption in the Ministry of Education and promoting indecency in education and effective cooperation with SAVAK and expelling revolutionary educators from the Ministry of Culture of Iran” and sentenced him to death.

The Revolutionary Court referred to SAVAK documents and claimed that Farkhrou Parsa had criticized the headscarves of female school administrators in a meeting of religious school administrators and insulted the veiled administrators. Farkhrou Parsa denied this claim and said: “In that meeting, I said regarding women’s headscarves that the headscarf 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 urged women to wear heavy clothing and with proper headscarves.”

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

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

Ritual washers of the dead refused to wash the body of Farkhrou Parsa, who had been executed under the charge of spreading corruption on earth. The women of his family washed his body. Three bullets had hit below his chest and exited from the back of his body.

Physical Execution of Mah-Afreed Amir Khosravi

(Born 1969 in Rudbar, Gilan – Died June 24, 2014 in Evin Prison) who was also known as Amir Mansour Aria, was accused in September 2011 of embezzling several thousand billion tomans (2,800 or 3,000 billion tomans), which is said to have been the largest embezzlement in Iran’s history.

According to a report, he was the two hundred and ninetieth richest person in the world. Mah-Afreed Amir Khosravi’s initial activities began with running a dairy farm with his brothers in 2005 and 2006. He, who had also served 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 and led him to engage in financial corruption. Similarly, the initial capital of the “Amir Mansour Aria Capital Development Company” on June 28, 2006 was equal to 50 million tomans, which according to the minutes of the board of directors meeting of the same company on November 30, 2008 increased to 20 billion tomans.

In 2010, the Amir Mansour Aria Capital Development Company, in line with implementing Article 44 of the Iranian Constitution, through suspicious measures, was able to purchase 94.96% of the shares of Lorestan Machinery Manufacturing, 95.2% of the shares of the Iran Steel Industrial Group, 95% of the shares of Railway Technical Line Engineering and Infrastructure (Travers), and 39.5% of the shares of Aceshin Steel Khuzestan.

Some of the subsidiary companies of “Amir Mansour Aria Capital Development” are as follows:

The brothers Amir Khosravi by names Mah-Afreed, Mehregan, Masoud, and Mardavieh are the principal figures constituting this group.

Similarly, the wives of the above four brothers by names Sara Khosravi, Touba Abdollahzadeh Siahkali, Farshideh Tahvildar Akbari, and Soraya Afsordid participated in economic activities and especially in the ownership of company shares, and therefore the assets of these individuals have been seized and confiscated by the judiciary of the country. Mehregan Amir Khosravi and his wife Touba Abdollahzadeh Siahkali have been residing in Montreal, Canada since last summer and hoped for permanent residence in that country, but Canada’s immigration office did not accept this couple’s residence application.

In late 2010, he obtained the approval of the Central Bank to establish a bank named “Aria Bank” and in March of that year proceeded with underwriting and then publishing a job vacancy announcement. However, in August 2011, the Central Bank revoked the bank’s operating license.

Embezzlement

He was the main accused in the embezzlement of three thousand billion tomans from Bank Saderat Iran, for which he was arrested on August 6, 2011.

Special Facilities

Another charge against him was the use of 400 billion tomans in facilities from the National Bank, which were provided without any documents or collateral. This amount, apart from embezzlement through letter of credit opening.

Land Grabbing

230 hectares of land in Kish 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 issuance of the court’s verdict, at dawn on June 24, 2014, the execution order 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 Mah-Afreed Amir Khosravi, son of Mansour, was carried out early Saturday morning, the twenty-fourth of Khordad 1393, at Evin Prison. This sentence was carried out three days after Mah-Afreed Khosravi’s lawyer reported that he had written a letter to Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Given these accusations as well as such economic advancement, and also the immediate and uninterrupted execution of him, it is certain that once again the interests and secrets of state officials were at risk. And all of us must know that such actions are only the product of a corrupt regime that, by making playthings of capitalists and entrepreneurs, engages in massive embezzlement and rent-seeking in such a way that no trace remains of the regime’s officials and corrupt government.

Those Accused of Embezzlement in Iran

• Mah-Afreed Amir Khosravi

KH

• Mahmoudreza Khavari
• Fazil Khodadad

R

• Morteza Rafigh-Doost

K

• Gholamhossein Karbaschi

N

• Nasser Vaez Tabasi

Those Executed in Iran During the Islamic Republic

A

• Hassan Azarfar
• Asghar Arasteh

A

• Mahdi Islamian
• Ali Eshtari
• Ashraf Cheharcheshmeh
• Execution of Political Prisoners (Summer 1988)
• Jamshid Aalam
• Bahram Afzali
• Farhad Vakili
• Habibollah Qalaniyyan
• Fathollah Omid Najafabadi
• Ali-Asghar Amiraani
• Mah-Afreed Amir Khosravi
• Shahram Amiri

B

• Mansour Baqerian
• Pari Balande
• Mahdi Baligh
• Zahra Bahrami
• Manouchehr Behzadi
• Bijeh
• Bijan Irannejad

P

• Yousef Pourrezaei
• Farkhrou Parsa
• Mohammad Pourhormozhan
• Hassan Pakruvan
• Shakrollah Paknajad

J

• Shahla Jahed
• Reyhane Jabbari
• Majid Jamali Fashi
• Nader Jahanbani

H

• Mohammad Ali Haj-Aghaei
• Habibollah Ashuri
• Ali Hejat Kashani
• Hossein Ahmadi Rouhani
• Saeed Hanai
• Ali Haidarian

KH

• Khafash Shab
• Habib Khabbiri
• Fazil Khodadad
• Rahim Ali Kharam
• Manouchehr Khosrodad
• Hossein Khezri

D

• Delara Darabi
• Gholamhossein Daneshi

R

• Amirmohsen Rabiee
• Atefeh Rajabi Sahale
• Arash Rahmanipur
• Yahya Rahimi
• Abdullah Riazi
• Abdolhamid Rigi

Z

• Siamak Zaeem

S

• Hossein Soudmand
• Nasser Sobhani
• Jalal Sajdeie
• Manouchehr Malek
• Mohammad Reza Saadat
• Javad Saeed
• Saeed Soltanpour
• Manouchehr Salimi
• Sohrab Gholami
• Seyyed Saeed Mahdioun

SH

• Rahim Shams
• Taghi Shahram

S

• Ali Saremi

A

• Abdullah Khajeh-Nouri
• Houshang Atarian
• Mohammad Ali Alameh Vahidi
• Shirin Alameholi
• Mohammad Reza Aalizamani

F

• Ehsan Fattahian
• Farhi Brothers
• Farjollah Seifi Kamanger
• Farkhzad Jahangiri
• Abdullah Farivar Moghadam
• Faridon Tavangari

Q

• Khosrow Qashqai
• Sadegh Qotbzadeh

K

• Kazem Afjei
• Jafar Kazemi
• Bijan Kabirian
• Farzad Kamanger

G

• Akbar Goodarzi

M

• Majid Kavousiefar
• Mohsen Amiraslani
• Ayatollah Mohaqqeqi
• Mona Mahmoudnejad
• Mohammad Herat
• Mohammad Mahdi Dozdozani
• Fateme Modares
• Marde Zhele-i
• Shirko Moarrefi
• Masoomeh Shadmani
• Ahmad Massoumi Koochsefahan
• Nasser Moghadam
• Ali-Reza Malasoltani
• Soraya Manouchehri
• Yaqoub Mehrnahad
• Farjollah Mizani

N

• Ali Neshat
• Nematollah Nasiri
• Zhinus Nemmat Mohammadi
• Gholamreza Nikpay
• Parviz Nikkhah

H

• Rahman Hatafi
• Seyyed Mehdi Hashemi (Pasdari)
• Amir Abbas Hoveyda
• Heybaatollah Moini Chaghrond

Y

• Fasih Yasmani

Executions of Pahlavi Government Officials

By the verdict of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Iran and by order of Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini and under the presidency of Sadegh Khalkhali, following the 1979 revolution, a wave of executions of officials and supporters of the previous government was set in motion, the primary objective of which was purportedly to address the crimes of Pahlavi government officials. These executions generally provoked strong reactions from world societies, especially Amnesty International.

On February 17, 1979, the first group of former regime officials, which included four generals of the Imperial Iranian Army, were condemned to death by the Revolutionary Court under the presidency of Sadegh Khalkhali. According to Amnesty International’s report from the triumph of the revolution until March 1980, a total of 438 people were executed by the Revolutionary Court.

Executions of Baha’is

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

Summer 1988 Executions

The execution of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 was an event during which, by the order of Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini, several thousand political and ideological prisoners in the prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran were secretly executed in the months of August and September 1988 and buried in mass graves. In general, the crime of the prisoners was considered cooperation with organizations opposing the Islamic Republic, especially the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization of Iran, as well as various factions of left-wing, communist, and Marxist groups. The number of victims of this event varies among different sources and is estimated between 3,000 to 4,482 people. The Special Rapporteur on human rights of the United Nations reported at least 1,879 executed political prisoners.

Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran

During the rule of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the General Assembly of the United Nations has issued resolutions regarding human rights violations by the Islamic Republic almost every year, except for one or two years. In General Assembly resolution A/RES/64/176 issued in April 2010, the Assembly condemned Iran in many cases, including the government’s treatment of protesters against the results of the Iranian presidential election (2009). The Islamic Republic government severely tramples civil liberties including freedom of speech, press, assembly, associations, and personal freedoms and has hindered religious freedoms.

Ethnic and Religious Minorities

More than 49 percent of Iran’s population consists of ethnic minorities. The Constitution grants equal rights to all ethnic minorities 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 languages in schools. A small number of minority groups sought separation. Instead, they complained of economic and political discrimination. State radio and television broadcasts programs in various ethnic languages.

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

Non-Muslim Communities

During the final review session of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, the debate over whether “should the official religion of the country be mentioned in the Constitution?” ended in favor of Shia Islamists. Finally, Article 12 of the Iranian Constitution introduced “Islam and Twelver Ja’fari Shi’ism” as the official religion of the country and satisfied itself with the fact that other Islamic schools such as Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, Hanbali, and Zaydi can act according to their jurisprudence. Influential clergy at that time opposed requests by representatives of non-Muslim communities (such as Jews, Baha’is, and Zoroastrians) for recognition of their religions as official religions of the country and insisted that non-Muslims should be considered as “dhimmis.” 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 the only recognized religious minorities who are free within the limits of the law to perform their religious ceremonies and follow their own beliefs in personal matters and religious education.

According to some, the mention of the phrase “only recognized religious minorities” in this article ultimately resulted in other religious communities (including Baha’is as the largest religious community in Iran after Muslims) being deprived of recognized rights.

Article 881 of the Civil Code is the most controversial law in Iran regarding religious minorities. This article, which concerns the matter 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 non-Muslim heirs do not inherit; although they may be superior in rank and degree to the Muslim.” In Iranian courts, religious minorities are subject to this article of law and in inheritance cases are considered among “non-believers.” Of course, this law is a way for self-interested individuals to abuse it.

In the Islamic Penal Code, if the victim is a Muslim, retaliation is considered as punishment for the murderer, but in the same code, if the victim is a member of religious minorities (non-Muslim), the murderer’s punishment is diyeh (blood money). Among other legal differences and 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 seizure of endowments of non-Muslim citizens in Iran and the destruction of their schools and the neglect of officials are other problems faced by non-Muslim Iranian citizens. After the triumph of the 1979 revolution, for years religious minorities were deprived of having their own schools. The preliminary speeches and detailed minutes of assembly discussions indicate repeated protests by their representatives in the assembly. After the reopening of these schools, placing the management of schools in the hands of Muslim individuals despite protests from religious minorities has been another problem for this group of Iranians. An issue that, even after years have passed, has not been completely resolved, and some schools of religious minorities are run by Muslim principals.

This collection of issues has caused what Robert Beglarian, representative of Southern Armenians in the seventh, eighth, and ninth parliaments, calls the most important challenge for religious minorities at present to be the phenomenon of migration.

Azerbaijanis

The current leader of Iran, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, is himself of Azerbaijani ethnicity from Khameneh and understands Turkish language. However, a minority of Azerbaijanis have consistently protested against ethnic and linguistic discrimination, including the prohibition of teaching Azerbaijani language in schools, harassment of Azerbaijani political activists, and changing Azerbaijani geographical names. In May 2007, large-scale demonstrations were held in Azerbaijani-speaking cities of Iran in protest of a cartoon in Iran newspaper, which resulted in the arrest of 300 people and the death of 4 protesters. Iranian government officials attributed the causes of these demonstrations to Israel. Abbas Banai Kazenini 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.

Arab People

Following 3 explosions in 2005 and 2006 in Khuzestan province of Iran, the Revolutionary Court issued an order announcing the execution of 11 Arabs in connection with the bombings. The government held foreign forces and governments responsible for these acts of violence. Some human rights activists have stated that those accused of the explosions did not have a fair trial.

Jews

The Iranian-American Jewish Federation has stated that Iranian authorities have provided no information about 11 Jewish men who disappeared in 1994 and 1997.

The educational system of the Islamic Republic of Iran restricts Jewish children’s use of non-religious Jewish books and requires Jewish schools to remain open on Saturday. Regarding the level of advancement of Jews in professional occupations, especially in government agencies, there are restrictions.

Political Executions

After the 1979 revolution, a number of officials of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s government were executed, and similarly in the summer of 1988, a number of members of groups opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran were executed.

Criminal Executions

Amnesty International reported that in 2007 at least 24 people were executed every week and more than 64 people were sentenced to death, and Iran with 317 executions that year 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 the town of Neka for what was called “illicit sexual relations.”

Based on Islamic laws enforced in Iran, homosexuals, if their homosexuality is proven, face the death penalty, and the judge can choose from among five methods including throwing the criminal from a height or collapsing a wall on him, the manner of execution. 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 acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994. However, some existing laws in Iran still contradict this Convention.

Violence

According to Iranian regulations, physical punishment of a child by the father is allowed to the extent deemed proper, while Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires states to protect children from all forms of abuse by parents or guardians. According to Article 22 of the Islamic Penal Code, if a father or paternal grandfather kills his child, he shall not face retaliation and shall only be liable to pay diyeh and discretionary punishment, but in similar circumstances the mother will face retaliation.

Education

Both the Constitution and the Regulations on the Rights of the Child require education of children up to a certain age to be compulsory, but a high percentage of Iranian children currently do not receive education due to economic problems. The lack of birth registration and statelessness of children with Afghan fathers and Iranian mothers has prevented them from being able to register and study in any school, which contradicts the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Homosexuals

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

Gay Men

Iranian law condemns men who for the first time commit homosexual acts, provided that penetration has occurred, to various punishments including execution. In cases where penetration has not occurred, these individuals receive a maximum of 100 lashes. Based on Iran’s criminal laws, to prove sodomy, either the individual’s confession repeated four times or the testimony of four just male witnesses is required. However, judges can also accept circumstantial evidence.

Lesbians

Women who commit homosexual acts (lesbianism) for the fourth time may be sentenced to death.

Privacy

In 2007, law enforcement arrested 150,000 people in the course of combating improper dress and forced them to write “commitment letters” to comply with dress codes according to government standards.

Also, in that year, airport security police detained more than 17,000 people who had traveled through Iranian airports because of their clothing 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 hijab, 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 in terms of inequality between women and men, which is very regrettable.