Why does polygamy persist? It is, of course, advocated by all the extremist religions and decreed by their (male) religious leaders as the will of God. The founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith, decided that God told him a man needed at least three wives to make it into heaven.

He founded the Mormon Church which encouraged polygamy. Most of its adherents abandoned the practice in the late 19^th century, so that Utah could join the United States. But some followers, currently estimated to number 37,000, formed conservative sects and now live in remote regions of Utah, Arizona and Idaho.

Polygamy may look like a solution to male desire for sexual variety, but is, of course, incompatible with universal human rights and the idea of women as equal human beings. It limits them to the roles of child bearings and rearing. They become sexual servants of their shared spouse and must accept the elders’ ruling on their dress and hairstyle. It promotes child marriage and exploitation. The sect’s present leader Warren Jeffs and two of his associates are now serving jail sentences for promoting child rape. Since boys and girls are born as usual in about equal numbers, young men are banished from the community around puberty, lest they seek girl partners, who are being reserved for male elders.

Who are these men and women who so desperately need external control of their lives?

The Independent 15.5.10 reports that an ex-Mormon, Richard Holm, has started a tourist trip round Colorado City, home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, to show Mormon life in action and open it up to the external world. The 4 hour tour costs $70 and is unpopular with the Mormon community – but perhaps it will reveal to both sides another way of life.

The bigger question is how the sect continues to survive in the United States, a country committed to freedom of the individual, universal human rights and the principle of monogamous marriage.

African Studies Give Women Hope in H.I.V. Fight

Edited version of an article by Celia Dugger in New York Times 19/07/2010

VULINDLELA, South Africa — With an AIDS vaccine still out of reach, two rigorous new studies have found different ways to sharply cut H.I.V. infections among women and schoolgirls, who make up a majority of the newly infected in sub-Saharan Africa.

Women who used a vaginal microbicidal gel containing an antiretroviral medication widely used to treat AIDS, tenofovir, were 39 percent less likely over all to contract H.I.V. than those who used a placebo. Those who used the gel most regularly reduced their chances of infection 54 percent, according to a two-and-a-half year study of 889 women by Caprisa, a Durban-based AIDS research center.

In Vienna, where the meeting of the International AIDS Society just opened, leaders of the global fight against AIDS said they found the results of the microbicide trial very impressive. The study was published online on Monday by Science magazine.

In another piece of progress against AIDS, a separate, large study in Malawi sponsored by the World Bank, and made public on Sunday, found that if poor schoolgirls and their families received small monthly cash payments, the girls had sex later, less often and with fewer partners.

A year and a half after the program started, the girls were less than half as likely to be infected with the AIDS or herpes viruses than were girls whose families got no payments. The likelihood that the girls would agree to sex in return for gifts and cash declined as the size of the payments from the program rose, suggesting the central role of extreme poverty in sexual choices.

Scientists say the success of the $18 million microbicide trial, largely paid for by the United States Agency for International Development, and the study on cash payments offer hope to girls and women in Africa, who have higher rates of H.I.V. infection than their male counterparts and often less power in relationships to protect themselves.

In the $400,000 trial in Malawi, 3,800 teenage girls and young women, ages 13 to 22, were randomly assigned to two groups. Half the girls received no cash payments. The parents of the other half were paid $4 to $10 a month while the girls themselves received $1 to $5 a month if they attended school regularly. After 18 months, the H.I.V. prevalence among the girls who got the cash was 1.2 percent, compared with 3 percent for the others.

The women who participated in the study — in the city of Durban and in the rural community of Vulindlela, in the rolling hills of KwaZulu-Natal — used the gel up to 12 hours before and after sex. Usually their partners were not aware of it.

Gilead Sciences, the California-based biopharmaceutical company that developed tenofovir, donated 65 pounds of the active ingredient for the study. It has also relinquished any claim to royalties on the gel if it is distributed in Africa and poor countries in other parts of the world.

In Vulindlela, women have a desperate need for a way to protect themselves. H.I.V. testing of pregnant women in the area has found that one in 10 is already H.I.V.-positive by 16; half are infected by 24.

No Impunity for Rape
No Anonymity for Defendants

Edited version of an article by Rights of Women

The Government proposes to give those accused of rape anonymity.  In no other offence, including murder or those that relate to child pornography, is the suspect shielded from identification in this way. Rights of Women and most other women’s organisations believe that giving suspects anonymity, whether until charge or conviction:

1. Will hamper police investigations

2. Will reinforce erroneous and harmful myths about the prevalence of ‘false’ reports of rape.

3. Sends a clear message to women that they are not to be believed.

Unreliable and incorrect assumptions about ‘false’ reports of rape should not form the basis of a legal response to sexual violence. There is no reliable empirical evidence that suggests that there are problematic numbers of false reports of rape. In her review, Baroness Stern concluded that ‘those we spoke to in the system felt that there were very few [false reports].  The judges we talked to said these cases occur very infrequently. An experienced police officer had come across two such cases in 15 years.’

In their 2007 examination of the way that rape cases are handled, inspectors of the police and CPS found that ‘In no other crime is the victim subject to so much scrutiny during an investigation or trial’.

Rights of women have called on the Government to drop its proposals on anonymity and instead focus its energy in securing sustainable services for survivors of sexual violence and improving the investigation and prosecution of offenders.

www.rightsofwomen.org.uk

Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary Representation

The representation of women and minorities in Parliament is now a matter of general concern. Last year the Prime Minister called for a Speaker’s Conference to:

"Consider, and make recommendations for rectifying, the disparity between the representation of women, ethnic minorities and disabled people in the House of Commons and their representation in the UK population at large".

The Conference, made up of MPs from all parties, reported in January 2010.

This is our selection from the Report’s Conclusions and Recommendations:

15.  It is important to ensure that there is no single route into politics which is accessible only to a privileged few. The routes by which future Members come into Parliament should be monitored and information published by the political parties. (Paragraph 102)

23.  We fully support the proposed extension of the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002 to enable the use of all-women shortlists until 2030. Like the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002 such provision should be time-limited and should be subject to review prior to 2030. (Paragraph 149)

24.  .............. If the political parties fail to make significant progress on women's representation at the 2010 general election, Parliament should give serious consideration to the introduction of prescriptive quotas, ensuring that all political parties adopt some form of equality guarantee in time for the following general election. (Paragraph 156)

25.  .......... We recommend that all political parties registered under part 2 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 should be required to publish details of their candidate selections online every six months, on 31 March and 31 October.

26.  Following the 2010 general election all political parties represented at Westminster should publish a statement setting out the current proportion of their Parliamentary party which is: female; from a BME community; and/or identifies as a disabled person. The statement should also set out what proportion of the Parliamentary party the national party would like to see appearing in each of these categories in December 2015 and December 2020. This statement should be published by December 2010. In December 2015 and December 2020 the parties should publish further statements setting out what progress they have made towards just representation within the parliamentary party, compared to the 2010 baseline and the percentage of each group within the UK population as a whole. (Paragraph 165)

27.  We recommend that the Government should find time for a debate on the implementation of the Speaker's Conference's recommendations and progress towards just representation in the House of Commons in 2010, 2012, and every two years thereafter to 2022. (Paragraph 166)

33.  We support the suggestion of a Democracy Diversity Fund which could be drawn upon by local political parties to support the work of developing talented individuals from under-represented groups and also to provide bursaries to individuals who would otherwise be unable to sustain the costs of candidacy.

36.  .... the Government [should] legislate to give approved prospective parliamentary candidates who are employees the right to request a reasonable amount of unpaid leave during working hours and/or a right to work flexibly for the purposes of campaigning. (Paragraph 223)

37.  The Government should legislate to enable approved prospective parliamentary candidates who are employees to take unpaid leave, rather than resigning their employment, for the period from the dissolution of Parliament to election day (Paragraph 224)

50.  The Government has recently indicated its intention to give the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) the responsibility for setting salaries and pensions, with effect from 2011-12. We invite IPSA to consider the development of formal maternity, paternity and caring leave arrangements for MPs which are as closely equivalent to the general public sector provision as possible. In the mean time we would ask the Senior Salaries Review Body to look into the matter and to report in 2010. (Paragraph 268)

51.  ............. We welcome the recent announcement of plans for a nursery facility within the Parliamentary estate and urge the House service to implement the proposal as soon as possible. This facility should be open to Members and staff. (Paragraph 270)

52.  ............. We recommend that a scheme be considered to allow Members to take a proportion of their salary in the form of childcare vouchers. (Paragraph 271)

54.  The sitting hours of the House should again be reviewed, and voted upon by the House, early in the new Parliament. Ideally, sitting time for the main chamber should be brought in line with what is considered to be normal business hours. ....we recommend a substantial further development of deferred voting in order to facilitate a more family friendly approach to sitting arrangements and unscheduled (unprogrammed) votes. Further consideration should be given to modern methods of voting to facilitate a more efficient and practical use of time, in line with other legislatures. (Paragraph 286)

67.  That there is a lack of balance in media coverage of Parliament between 'set piece' debates in the Chamber and the less heated discussion in other settings. Greater reporting of constructive committee hearings and events outside the main Chamber would:

·  increase public understanding of the breadth of Parliamentary activity and the work of backbenchers;

·  clearly demonstrate that there is more to the work and culture of the Commons, and of individual Members, than barracking, shouting and trying to get one over on the other side; and could

·  re-engage those members of the public who find the presentation of debates and questions in the Chamber tiresome and off-putting. (Paragraph 332)

68.  The House of Commons Media and Communications Service should identify new approaches in both old and new media which would bring the more measured and less heated elements of the House's work to a wider audience. We urge Members to take the opportunities thus offered to present the work of the House in a more constructive light. (Paragraph 335)

The full report can be found at:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/spconf/239/23904.htm

Submissions to the Speakers Conference, including those from the Women’s National Commission, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, and Women in Politics can be found at:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/spconf/167/167we01.htm

Protection centres for victims of domestic abuse opened at Baghdad police stations

Edited version of article by Patricia Rich, published on www.opendemocracy.net

The Iraqi interior ministry has opened two “family protection” centres in Baghdad to deal with domestic violence. These centres are the first of their kind in Iraq where until recently the government denied domestic abuse was a problem. Staffed by mainly female social workers, their opening has been hailed by the ministry for women’s affairs as a victory for the women of Iraq. However, their location at police stations has come under criticism as it is feared women will not want to officially report their husbands. A police lieutenant at the newly opened centre in Baghdad’s Qahira told Reuters “It is not going to work... because she (an abused woman) will consider herself coming to a police station... and that is socially unacceptable”. Kamil Ameen of the human rights ministry argues that though their location may not be perfect “we have to start somewhere, like any other country”

The opendemocracy verdict: Under Saddam Hussein’s rule progress had begun to be made in relation to women’s rights. Most forms of employment were open to both men and women, benefiting from a national literacy campaign targeting both sexes, and the majority of women in urban areas attended secondary and some higher education. The Iran-Iraq war took many men to the battle field, leaving an employment vacuum which women stepped into, filing posts left vacant by their fighting male counterparts. Although this did not represent the emancipation of women in Iraq, the onset of change had begun. The 1980’s gave a generation of women in Iraq the chance to experience the beginnings of a change in their societal position – something the younger generation today have not been privy to.

The situation for women in Iraq has again deteriorated throughout the on-going war and occupation. Rumours circulated throughout the country that there was a severe increase in the number of rape and abductions which, whatever the truth of the matter, led to a situation where women became ever more fearful of leaving their homes alone and many more decided to cover themselves if they did choose to leave (see Victoria Fontan Voices from Post-Saddam Iraq, 2009). As a result of the war any progress which had been made for women previously was reversed; women were repelled from the public sphere, pushed back into the realm of the home and further from emancipation.

In order to fully understand the importance of the above analysis we must comprehend the primacy of honour in Iraqi society. Perhaps the most fundamental points to make with regard to honour is that, rather than individually, it is communally held. There are two main dimensions to honour that of the sharaf and the ird. While the sharaf refers to honour in a general sense the ird relates to sexual conduct and the safeguarding of women’s purity. While the ird is held by women it reflects upon males. Women’s honour is bound within that of their birth family.

The opening of the new “protection centres” can be understood as undermining the traditional notion that the natal family is responsible for affording protection to women in Iraq. Anyone with any understanding of domestic abuse will know that getting women to prosecute abusive partners is extremely difficult, and while providing a safe and trustworthy place is an imperative step in the fight against domestic violence, attaching them to a police force renders these centres usefulness questionable at best.

Congratulations to Sharon Bowles MEP
Chair of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON)

In mid-July, Sharon appeared in the Financial Times top 100 most influential people in European finance. She was also among the top 10 regulators and is notably the first politician to be listed.

Sharon’s ideas on banker’s bonuses and mega-pension payouts have become EU law, with the passing of the third Capital Requirements Directive (CRD3). Now half of big bonuses and all bonus-like pension pots have to be paid in shares and ‘contingent capital’. This is capital which can be used to shore up the bank’s capital base in the event of collapse or big losses. Upfront cash payments will be limited to 30%. Thanks to Sharon, we shall not see any more Fred Goodwins, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, who brought about the bank’s near collapse and yet left with a £2.7 million lump sum and a £703,000 a year pension.

CRD3 also requires all banks to hold three times as much capital as before, to cover their trading book activity. Sharon is to be congratulated.

We hope that the next FT list will include more than four women. Sharon is leading the way.

What isn't wrong with Sharia law?

From an article by Maryam Namazie, guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 July 201

Human rights campaigner Gita Sahgal says: "There is active support for sharia laws precisely because it is limited to denying women rights in the family."

Now a report, Sharia Law in Britain: A Threat to One Law for All and Equal Rights, reveals the adverse effect of sharia courts on family law. Under sharia's civil code, a woman's testimony is worth half of a man's. A man can divorce his wife by repudiation, whereas a woman must give justifications, some of which are difficult to prove. Child custody reverts to the father at a preset age; women who remarry lose custody of their children even before then; and sons inherit twice the share of daughters.

There has been much controversy about Muslim arbitration tribunals, which have attracted attention because they operate as tribunals under the Arbitration Act, making their rulings binding in UK law. But sharia councils, which are charities, are equally harmful. Sharia councils will frequently ask people to sign an agreement to abide by their decisions. Councils call themselves courts and the presiding imams are judges. There is neither control over the appointment of these judges nor an independent monitoring mechanism. People often do not have access to legal advice and representation. Proceedings are not recorded, nor are there any searchable legal judgements. Nor is there any real right to appeal.

"In this way, these privatised legal processes were ignoring not only state law intervention and due process but providing little protection and safety for the women.”

An example of the kind of decision that is contrary to UK law and public policy is the custody of children. Under British law, the child's best interest is the court's paramount consideration. In a sharia court the custody of children reverts to the father at a preset age regardless of the circumstances. In divorce proceedings, too, civil law takes into account the merits of the case and divides assets based on the needs and intentions of both parties. Under sharia law, only men have the right to unilateral divorce. If a woman manages to obtain a divorce without her husband's consent, she will lose the sum of money (or dowry) that was agreed to at the time of marriage.

There is an assumption that those who attend sharia courts do so voluntarily and that unfair decisions can be challenged. Since much of sharia law is contrary to British law and public policy, in theory they would be unlikely to be upheld in a British court. In reality, women are often pressured by their families into going to these courts and adhering to unfair decisions and may lack knowledge of their rights under British law.

The report recommends abolishing the courts by initiating a human rights challenge and amending the Arbitration Act as Canada's Arbitration Act was amended in 2005 to exclude religious arbitration.

The demand for the abolition of sharia courts in Britain is a defence of human rights. To safeguard the rights and freedoms of all those living in Britain, there must be one secular law for all and no religious courts.

'Leave your job or we will cut your head off your body...'

With violence on the rise, Afghan women are terrified at the prospect of a deal between President Karzai and the Taliban

Edited version of an article by Patrick Cockburn
The Independent, Saturday, 17 July 2010

Women in Taliban-held areas of Afghanistan say they are once again being threatened, attacked and forced out of jobs and education as fears rise that their rights will be sacrificed as part of any deal with insurgents to end the war in Afghanistan.

One female teacher at a girls' school in a southern Afghan province received a letter saying: "We warn you to leave your job as a teacher as soon as possible otherwise we will cut off the heads of your children and will set fire to your daughter."

Activists are fearful that their rights will be sold out in a deal between the Taliban or other insurgent groups and the US-backed Afghan government. They believe that if the Taliban is given a share in power, women will again be reduced to a condition close to slavery, as when the Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan in 1996-2001. Women, who had made up 70 per cent of teachers and 50 per cent of civil servants, were banned from working except in healthcare.

With the war reaching a stalemate over the last year, Afghan and foreign leaders have prepared the ground for talks with insurgents by claiming they are more moderate and pragmatic than the Taliban government overthrown in 2001.

But the idea that the present day Taliban is less hostile to women than the old is contradicted by the experiences of women in Taliban-held districts. A report by Human Rights Watch shows that women are being deprived of all rights. The report, entitled The 'Ten Dollar Talib' and Women's Rights: Afghan Women and the Risks of Reintegration and Reconciliation', is released this week. The HRW report is the first time that repression of women in Taliban- controlled areas in Afghanistan has been systematically studied.

Hostility to women is shared by other insurgent leaders as well as the Taliban. The movement's leader is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose first political act was reportedly to throw acid in the faces of unveiled female students at Kabul University in the early 1970s.

On 13 April this year a female aid worker, Hossai, 22, was shot as she left the office of an American development organisation and died the next day. Soon after Hossai was killed, Nadia – who worked for an international NGO – got a letter telling her to stop working for infidels. In late 2009, in Kapisa province east of Kabul, women were warned not to ring up radio stations and request songs. They were told if they did they would be beheaded or acid thrown in their faces.

Girls' schools, which sprang up again after 2001, are once more being ordered to close. In Kunduz province in the north, the shadow Taliban governor sent out orders that no girls were to be educated past puberty. In Kunduz these threats were reinforced by arson, rocket and bomb attacks. There have also been outbreaks of unexplained sickness at several schools, which could be the result of mass poisoning.

Women active in politics have been targeted and a number of the most prominent assassinated. The report says that women should be involved and able to protect their interests in any negotiations about reintegration or reconciliation with the Taliban. One female member of parliament doubts this is possible because "the Taliban would rather see a woman die in the streets than go to a restaurant to get food if men were there. These are the kind of people we're talking about".

CAMP ASHRAF ‘MOHAREBEH’
Enemies of God
By Elizabeth Sidney

The residents of Camp Ashraf are all, according to the Mullahs ruling Iran, ‘Moharebeh’. Article 186 of the Iranian regime’s Islamic Punishments Act, affirms that all who in any way support a group calling for the regime’s overthrow are deemed to be waging war on God and liable to execution.

Camp Ashraf, founded thirty years ago on land rented from the Iraqi government, is home to over 3000 Iranian opponents of the present regime in Iran and the mullahs want it closed down. Ashraf has become a symbol of resistance and if it were to go very little would stand in the way of Iran’s continuing infiltration of Iraq and the rapid spread of  extremist Islam. Its closure would also help Ayatollah Khameini regain his grip on government.

Ashraf residents are regularly subject to harassment and physical attack from Iranian forces. So far, they have been somewhat protected by the local presence of US forces, because the USA is required to recognise their Protected  Persons status under Article 45 of the 4th Geneva Convention. But on July 1st, the US forces handed over to the Iraqis and UNAMI ( UN Assistance Mission for Iraq), which has monitored Ashraf’s status, is moving to Baghdad. Iranian attacks on the Camp seem likely to increase unimpeded. They have already prevented food, water and medicines from entering the Camp and now maintain a continuous noisy barrage of propaganda at the gate.

Ahraf residents face certain execution if they return to Iran. They bear the standard for all their colleagues in the resistance movement. They are sustained by worldwide messages and televised programmes of rallies of Friends of Iran. On 26th June 2010, the NCRI (National Council of Resistance of Iran) organised a major afternoon rally in support of Ashraf  and I joined the thousands filling the huge open air venue north of Paris. We heard music from the Ashraf orchestra and speeches from major politicians round the world. They included John Bolton, former Permanent US Representative to the UN, and former Prime Ministers Jose Maria Aznar of Spain and Sid Ahmed Ghozali of Algeria. Politicians and lawyers had come from across Europe, the Middle East and Canada.  The crowd was enthusiastic and nothing reduced the applause and chanting. But it was extremely hot and we were all grateful for the purple hats and parasols handed out by our hosts, together with bottles of water and fruit juice. The purple sea made a colourful sight. I hoped the viewers also saw the great purple gold fringed balloons floating above us, bearing the picture of Mme Rajavi, President Elect of the Iranian Resistance. She closed the programme with the key note address, speaking fluently in French and English and somehow managing to continue to look cool and elegant.

She welcomed the UN Security Council’s 56th condemnation of Iran’s violations of human rights, passed in June 2010, and the stronger sanctions just approved by President Obama and Europe, although they needed to be stronger still. She called for UN forces to take over the protection of Camp Ahraf and for Ayatollah Khameini , President Ahmadinejad and other regime leaders to be tried for genocide by an international court. She called for the USA to remove the terrorist label from the PMOI, as the UK and European Union had done. Speaking to the resistance movement in Iran, she said they had declared they  did not want turbaned fascists. They did not want stoning, executions and amputations. They did not want forced veiling, compulsory religion and imposed rule. We want the mullahs gone from Iran.

She spoke about the courage of Ashraf residents, how they had withstood bombings, terrorists attacks, assassinations and siege. She saluted the Camp’s martyrs and announced the receipt of 480,000 letters from Diyala Province, where Ashraf is situated, all calling for the protection of Ashraf residents. She denounced Iran’s bullying and meddling in Iraqi politics.

But, she said, the regime was crumbling. There were defections even from the Revolutionary Guard and the Bassij Force. Democratic change from within was on its way. As always, this affirmation and hope drew the greatest applause.

It was on this same day that the USA took a major step against the Iranian regime. President Obama signed into law a further package of sanctions and the UN Security Council has done the same.  Will they work this time? Have they worked so far ?

The NCRI has obtained internal reports from Iranian officials to the President and the Defence Minister, acknowledging difficulties in obtaining steel and laser technology and the expense of using illegal sources. The rationing of gasoline had provoked widespread protest and the Revolutionary Guard, the Bassij forces and the State security forces would need special plans to counter protests when further restrictions were imposed. In April, a manager of the National Oil Company had stated that the domestic refineries had no further capacity and had  listed foreign suppliers who had refused to trade. Using illegal imports would be prohibitively expensive. But senior directors of the Iranian Oil Ministry perceived a bigger problem. The US banks were refusing funds, as had two banks operating with Shell and banks in Dubai. Out of sixteen small banks, only three had agreed to negotiate. Chinese banks working with USA had implemented sanctions and Indian companies had refused to circumvent sanctions. So the internal evidence is that sanctions have had an effect, and stronger sanctions should have more.

They have not been brought in to enforce better human rights, of course. They have been brought in because of fears regarding Iran’s nuclear intentions. It is indeed terrifying to think that such a regime should possess these ultimate weapons. Nevertheless, sanctions may change Iran. They may be the best prospect yet for all campaigning for more humane and democratic government and for the beleaguered residents of Camp Ashraf .

Elizabeth Sidney July 2010

Initiative Féministe Européenne pour un autre Europe
(European Feminist Initiative for another Europe)

Solidarité avec la lute des femmes iraniennes – NON aux exécutions !

Depuis juin 2009 la population iranienne est entrée en résistance contre le regime de la République Islamique. Le mouvement de protestation s’est radicalisé ces derniers mois. Des contre-manifestations ont été organisées lors de journées qui ont une signification politique idéologique ou religieuse pour le régime. Les cris de « A bas Khamenei », le chef suprême de régime Islamique, « Nous ne voulons pas résonnent avec une force croissante dans les rues de Téhéran et d’autres villes. Des portraits de Khomeiny et Khamenei sont brulés pendant les manifestations. Les gens raillent les dignitaires religieux et brûlent les symboles de la religion.

Les femmes sont au premier rang des manifestants. Le monde entier a salué et admire le courage et la détermination de leur lutte pour défendre leurs droits, leur liberté, pour refuser l’apartheid de genre, le port du voile et contrer l’oppression de l’un des régimes les plus misogynes de notre époque.

Ce régime connait une crise profonde et, pour tenter de survivre, il réprime violemment toute opposition. Ces derniers mois, des centaines de personnes ont été tuées et beaucoup plus encore ont été arrêtées et torturées, les viols et les viols collectifs sont devenus une méthode courante de torture dans les prisons. En juillet, une jeune femme Taraneh Mousavi a été arrêtée lors d’une manifestation de rue et est morte en prison des suites d’un viol collectif. Une femme de 24 ans, Elaheh in Esherat Abad, est morte sous la torture dans la prison de Téhéran le 8 Janvier 2010.

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