Mrs. Nashmil Ghavitasi, Arsalan Khodkam’s wife, a
political prisoner sentenced to death, was sentenced to one year in prison for
“acting against national security.” Nashmil
had been arrested in May, but was temporarily released on a 50-million-touman
bail after a month of interrogation about her husband. The execution sentence for political
prisoner Arsalan Khodkam has been upheld by the regime’s Supreme Court. He is
presently detained in Ward 3 of the Central Prison of Urmia, which confines
prisoners charged with ordinary crimes.
In another report, Asal Mohammadi, a female student and
a civil activist, is in an uncertain situation. Asal was arrested in connection
with the articles she wrote in support of the ongoing protests of the Ahvaz
Steel and Haft Tappeh workers.
Also security forces arrested Leili Khatami, a child
rights activist, who held plays and read stories for children in the deprived
regions of Zahedan and the areas hit by earthquake in Kermanshah. Her arrest was
made in Zahedan, capital of Sistan and Baluchestan province on December 10,
2018, on the charge of espionage.
******
A political prisoner died on hunger strike in Iran this
week. Mr. Vahis Sayyadi Nassiri a human rights activist and political prisoner
after 60 days of hunger strike in Langarooud prison in Qom died in Beheshti
hospital due to lack of medical treatment. He was 36 years old.
******
According to the statistics released by the Statistics
Center in Iran, the number of unemployed women is higher than men. The average annual unemployment rate in Iran
is 1.8%. With an annual growth rate of 3.8%, the population of unemployed women
reached 1,370,516
in 2017. It means that Iranian women’s unemployment rate reached a peak of
32.3% in 2017.
The state-run ISNA news agency reported on November 30,
2018, that the unemployment rate of women had increased from 17% in 2005 to
more than 20% in 2016. The unemployment rate for graduate students in the same
period increased from 15.7% to 20.4%.
In a report on November 21, 2018, the Special
Commission for the Protection of National Production and Monitoring of the
Implementation of Article 44 of the Constitution announced, "The
unemployment rate of educated young people is between 50% and 63%; the
unemployment rate for young educated women reaches 78%. These are disturbing
figures that indicate a very bad situation in the job market." (The
state-run ISNA news agency - November 21, 2018)
Sociologists believe that most of the
challenges and problems of women in the economic sphere are due to gender
discrimination, and its destructive effects have caused discrimination,
inequality, and, in general, some sort of economic violence.
Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the
clerical regime, explicitly outlines the attitude governing these laws. He
said, "God has created women for a particular area of life... employment
is not among the major issues that concern women." (Khamenei's official
website - April 19, 2014)
According to the Iranian regime’s Constitution, having a
decent job is not among the fundamental rights of women in Iran. (Preamble to the regime’s Constitution, section on women)
******
70 percent of school dropouts are made up
of girls in the Sistan and Baluchestan Province. Ali
Moradi, Director of Public Relations at the Education Department of Sistan and
Baluchestan Province revealed in an interview that there were about 110,000
school dropouts in the province in 2017. He said, "According to the
statistics in 2017, there were 110,000 children left out of school in this
province. 70 percent of these children are girls. Most of these children live
in the outskirts of Zahedan."
In the interview, Ali Moradi also revealed that “there
has been constant decline rather than progress in the Sistan and Baluchestan
Province.” (The state-run ILNA news agency – December 9, 2018)
According to Moradi’s statements, at least 77,000 girls
have been left out of school in Sistan and Baluchestan province. This contradicts earlier remarks by Alireza
Nakhaii, Director General of the Department of Education in Sistan and
Baluchestan Province who said that 169,000 children in this province, including
156,000 girls were left out of school and deprived of education. (The state-run
ILNA news agency - June 16, 2017)
In light of Moradi’s remarks that the
situation in Sistan and Bluchestan is constantly declining, it could be
concluded that the figure of 110,000 school dropouts must be considered an
underestimation and that the actual figures are much higher.
In another report, Farahnaz Minaipour, General
Director for Women and Family Affairs at the Ministry of Education, said,
"About 19 percent of high school girls drop out of school. This rate of
school dropouts is alarming. Economic poverty and early marriages are factors
contributing to this dropout. In North Khorasan Province, 42 girl students have
dropped out of elementary school because of early marriages." (The official
IRNA news agency – December 11, 2018)
On early child marriages, Parvaneh Salahshour, member of
the regime’s parliament, recently said that 45,000 girls under the age of 13
have married in Iran. (The state-run ILNA news agency – December 1, 2018)
