Mahsa Amini died on September 16th in Teheran, the capital of Iran, after being arrested by Iran’s morality police, for not wearing the Islamic veil, or hijab, as prescribed by Iranian law correctly.
According to the non-governmental organization (NGO) Iran Human Rights, which is based in Oslo, Norway, at least 185 people have been killed, including 19 children. The NGO said half of the deaths were recorded in the province of Sistan and Balucistan, in south-eastern Iran, on the border with Pakistan (IlPost).
The protests began immediately after the news of the death spread first in the western regions of the country, from which Amini came, and then in the rest of the country.
International law has come under fire from academics and activists for failing to take the initiative and take concrete steps to condemn Iran's institutionalized discrimination against women as gender apartheid.
However, a lot of discriminatory regulations, such as those requiring women to wear a hijab to cover their heads and faces, respect neither custom nor religion and are imposed on women of all races and religions.
Amini, infact, was not a Shiite woman in terms of her religion or background.
Let’s take a step back and focus on Iran’s Gender Apartheid.
The 1979 Islamic Revolution established a republic that implements inhumane policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination, that are like the ones practiced in South Africa under the government’s brutal apartheid regime.
The laws and policies in Iran establish and maintain domination by men and the state over women. Systematic gender inequalities are prescribed legally and enforced by the regime to deny the women the “right to life and liberty” and “basic human rights and freedoms,” which according to Article II of the United Nations’ Apartheid Convention in 1973, are considered “the crime of apartheid.” (Khezri, The Conversation, 2022)
Women in Iran are unable to hold any positions within the judicial, religious and military systems, nor are they able to serve as members of the Assembly of Experts, the Expediency Discernment Council or the Guardian Council, the three highest councils in the Islamic Republic. Furthermore, women cannot be president or supreme leader of Iran, in fact the president of the Islamic Republic must be elected from among the “religious and political men.” (Khezri, The Conversation, 2022)
In addition, the Iranian state has added discriminatory features to the criminal code, like the establishment the principle according to which the value of a woman is one-half of the value of a man and that applies in matters involving compensation for a killing and in what a son or daughter receives from a family inheritance. It also applies in the weight given to legal testimony or in obtaining a divorce.
For example, according to Article 18 of Iran’s Passport Law, a married woman still needs written permission from her male guardian to travel abroad (Iran Human Rights, 2022).
The state also has imposed systematic segregation in schools, hospitals, universities, transportation, sports and other major areas of day-to-day life. For many decades, Iran’s gender apartheid had relegated women to the back of the bus with a metal bar segregating them from men. Under the government’s direction, universities have set limits on women’s options and have banned them from many fields of study.
Iran has generally barred female spectators from soccer and other sports stadiums since the 1979 revolution. Playing a major role in the decision-making of this segregation are the clerics, who have argued that women must be shielded from the masculine atmosphere and sight of semi-clad men during sporting events.
If the situation couldn’t go worse, the segregation is also accompanied by Iran’s notorious extrajudicial morality police have terrorized women for decades.
The principles of the morality police are founded on an interpretation of canonical Shiite texts and are implemented through modern tools of control and prosecution (Ebrahim, 2022).
In international criminal law, specific unlawful acts that are committed within a system of oppression and domination are considered crimes against humanity.
According to the U.N.'s Apartheid Convention, these crimes include depriving a racial group or groups of fundamental rights that restrict them from taking part in the political, social, economic, and cultural life of the nation.
What is the most shocking is the compulsory use of the hijab, imposed over women. It is inacceptable to allow these rules, according to which a misplaced headscarf can result in up to 15 years in prison, lashing, fines and inhumane and unlawful arrest and death.
Such laws, policies and practices continue to mark women as lesser citizens, legally and socially unequal.
Bibliografia
Ebrahim, N. (2022). CNN World. Tratto da https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/21/middleeast/iran-morality-police-mime-intl/index.html
IlPost. (2022). Tratto da https://www.ilpost.it/2022/10/09/iran-mahsa-amini-proteste-morti-bambini/
Iran Human Rights. (2022). Tratto da https://iranhumanrights.org/2017/07/married-women-in-iran-still-need-permission-to-travel-abroad-under-amendment-to-passport-law/
Khezri, H. (2022). The Conversation. Tratto da https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/21/middleeast/iran-mahsa-amini-death-widespread-protests-intl-hnk/index.html
Khezri, H. (2022). The Conversation. Tratto da https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/21/middleeast/iran-mahsa-amini-death-widespread-protests-intl-hnk/index.html
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