The Iranian-Canadians gathered in front of the Parliament
Hill and across from PM office yesterday on Sat. in a cold and snowy weather in
Ottawa as part of their weekly gathering and stood in solidarity with the
Iranian Truck drivers on strike. They also called for the freedom of all
political prisoners and regime change in Iran.
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According to Women committee of the NationalCouncil of Resistance of Iran Nov,9, two Iranian women, Azam Dideban and Ameneh
Zaher Sari have been arrested and detained by the intelligence and security
forces in Mashhad and Ahvaz on November 5 and 6, respectively. Azam Dideban was
arrested on November 5, in the protest gathering outside the Ibn-e Sina
Hospital of Mashhad, demanding the release of teacher activist Hashem Khastar
who was kidnapped and arrested by the State Security Force. The State Security
Force had announced that all those arrested in this gathering were released on
the same night, but Azam Dideban was not released. She was taken to the detention
center of the Intelligence Department.
Ameneh Zaher Sari is a graduate of
accounting and resides in the Alavi neighborhood of Ahvaz. Ameneh is the third
person in her family to get arrested and detained in recent days. Intelligence
agents arrested her father, Hattab, and brother, Amin on Monday, November 5,
and took them to an unknown location.
The Iranian regime has arrested and detained
a number of women including Hakimeh Ahmadi, a civil rights activist and mother
of two, Lamya Hemadi, 20 and seven months pregnant, Zoudiyeh Afrawi, 55, and
Ghaisiyeh Afrawi, 60, residents of Albou Afri village in Susangerd, and Baha'i
women, Elham Salmanzadeh and Niloufar Hakimi, to name a few.
The teacher activist Hashem Khastar was
released on Sat. from the mental ward of Ibne sina hospital in Mashhad. Khastar
who was kidnapped by the agents of intelligent ministry, upon his release wrote
a message to the teaching community and the Iranian people, thanking them for
his release and promised to support the Iranian cause for freedom. He said that
he would write about his kidnapping ordeal.
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The case of 2 Iranian young women who had complained
about the attack of State Security Forces against them was rejected. "The
9th Branch of the Prosecutor's Office of the Armed Forces’ Judiciary
Organization, has issued a prohibition of prosecution to the case, arguing that
there is not sufficient evidence," said Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a defense
attorney for the two young women, in an interview with the official IRNA news
agency. A video clip disseminated in the social media on April 18, 2018, showed
at least four Guidance Patrols attacking four young women in a park, beating
and shoving them around for improper veiling and refusing to get on the
Patrol’s van. One of the young women who suffered from a heart condition and
went unconscious as a result of the beatings. The video clip went viral and
raised public outrage in Iran and around the world.
Sadeq Amoli Larijani, head of the Judiciary, stressed on
April 24, 2018, the need for the State Security Force to act within the
framework of law and religion. He reiterated, “One must not allow anyone to
resist against the SSF’s legal measures or insult its agents. The SSF must not
back down whatsoever.” (The state-run ISNA news agency – April 23, 2018)
The state-run Kayhan daily which reflects the
views of the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, also wrote that the SSF
officers must be praised. Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, said in defense of the
police, that the video was not clear and it was a set up seeking to distort the
image of the law enforcement officers.
Following of the regime’s outrageous handling
of this case despite overwhelming domestic and international repugnance, the
regime’s court prosecutor did not consider the witnesses to be sufficient and
rejected the appeal by victims of the SSF violence.
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Iran’s Azad University officials have banned
students living in girls’ dormitories from wearing comfortable clothing.
According to Azad University officials, if a person does not meet the criteria
for this instruction, the "Individual Adornment Committee" can
prevent them from entering the university.
The Individual Adornment Committee is one of
the new organs set up to crack down on female students and impose the
compulsory veiling on female students of Azad University in Iran.
According to the university's instructions,
the covering of female students should be the chador with suitable manteaux,
trousers, scarves and socks in decent colors, or long sleeves and under the
knee manteaux with conventional trousers and stockings.
Also, the hair and body of the woman should
be covered according to the religious hijab. Women's makeup is also forbidden.
The new bans by the Azad University have
been announced to various units of the university since September 29, entitled,
"Authorized and unauthorized examples of covering and appearance of the
Azad University."
The instructions also prohibit short sleeves
for men.(The state-run Fars news agency - November 3, 2018)
The research center of the Iranian regime’s
parliament (Majlis), published a report in July 2018, according to which nearly
70 percent of Iranian women either do not believe in the Sharia veil (Chador)
or are among “the improperly veiled” and protest the compulsory veil in Iran.
The report confirms that Iranian women
observe the veil only through coercion and harsh restrictions. The report says
there actually is a distaste regarding the (Chador) in part of society which
leads them to choose the Customary Veil over the (Chador).
Chador is a head-to-toe, usually black, veil
that covers all the body except for the face.
The term, Customary Veil, used in this
report is meant to refer to the scarf or shawl that Iranian women use to cover
their hair only to comply with the regime’s compulsory dress code and not out
of their own religious convictions. The regime has made up the term,
“improperly veiled” or “Bad-Hijab” in Farsi, to refer to this group of women.
