Date: Friday 25 November 2011
Time: 11:00 – 13:00,
Location: Thorne Room, Foreign Press Association,
25 Northumberland Avenue London WC2N 5AP
Event: “You are my wife and you will do as I tell you!”
Unveiling of ‘Chehel Tekeh’ protest banner from Iran
“You are my wife and you will do as I tell you!”
“I am the head of the household and you can’t leave this house without my permission. You don’t have my permission to see your family! You don’t have my permission to work! You don’t have my permission to study and there is nothing you can do about it! I will not allow you to divorce me and if you disobey me I can take up as many other wives as I please!”
Some of the rights granted to Iranian men according to the new proposed Family Protection Bill.
While the international community is preoccupied with nuclear issues and external threats from the Islamic Republic, internally the Islamic Parliament is debating the extent of legalised discrimination against 38 million Iranian women.
In protest against the [anti] Family Protection Bill a banner made up of forty stories of tragic consequences of such laws was presented to the Majils in November last year. Making polygamy illegal, granting equal and equitable divorce rights and urgent laws addressing the spiralling domestic violence were among their demands
On its first anniversary, the banner is here in London. It will be unveiled on Friday 25 November 2011 on the occasion of ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women’. It will travel Europe with hope of raising awareness and support through international pressure to fight against unjust discriminatory laws. The ‘Chehel Tekeh’ banner was supported by fifteen thousand names, addresses and signatures – in itself an unprecedented act of courage in a country stifled by fears of repercussions and oppression.
Contact and further information
Roya Kashefi 07960945970 rk@aciiran.com (English and Persian)
Head of Human Rights – Association des Chercheurs Iraniens – ACI, Author ‘Violence isn’t just physical’ to be published March 2012
Rouhi Shafii 07739988814 rouhi@icavi.org (English and Persian)
Author and Director - International Coalition Against Violence in Iran – ICAVI
Background information:
The Family Protection Bill was submitted to the Islamic Consultative Assembly during summer 2007 after being amended by President Ahmadinejad’s cabinet. It raised a great deal of concern and was quickly dubbed the Anti Family Protection Bill by all those fighting for equality in Iran. According to the most controversial article of the proposed Bill, Article 23, men could take up more wives without the knowledge or permission of the first wife. This meant that men could take up as many temporary wives as they liked lasting from 10 minutes to 99 years – without due care and attention tot eh fate of children born out of such marriages – and three other permanent wives.
The Chehel Tikeh told the story of women who were victims of such Islamic rights in the past who look to the government to safeguard their rights by not ratifying discriminatory laws
Story one
The nurse came out of the delivery, carrying the newly born. She approached the old man sitting with other family members and said: “Congratulations grandpa, your daughter-in-law has brought you a son!”
Suddenly, she saw the family’s gestures. He was the father! Mohtaram was his fourth wife and the same age as children from his first marriage. The man had bought her by the money he paid to her addicted father. Mohtaram was young but looked like an old woman. Her face reflected the sufferings she had endured, first in her father’s home and now her old husband’s and the society and the law!
Story two
I was the third child. When I was young we lived in the village with my grandfather. I always saw my mother’s sad and depressed face. Then, I realised the woman who lived next door with a child was my father’s second wife. Later, he moved away and got her a house near his shop and we rarely saw him. He didn’t contribute to the household and my mother struggled to provide for us through setting up a chicken farm. Years later, one day when we were not home she killed herself.
Story three
A few years after marriage, my husband started jokingly telling me that I looked like an old woman. I was 5 years younger than him. He began beating me and broke my hands several times. When he talked of taking up another wife I took it as a joke. “He wouldn’t do that”, I thought. “We have two children!” But one day he married a young girl and wanted to get a two storey building to bring his bride to live with us. I made him swear on the Qoran not to do that and he took his child bride elsewhere.He forgot about us and spent all his earning enjoying his bride. I was providing for the children by working in people’s homes or the hairdressing salons. My younger son says: when I grow up I will kill my dad.
Timeline
2007
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23 June – The Ahmadinejad cabinet ratifies the Family Protection Bill
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23 July – The Bill is presented to the Islamic Consultative Assembly (ICA)
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Early August – Criticisms and protests against the [anti] Family Protection Bill starts – particularly against articles 23 (legalising polygamy in all its forms)
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26 August – The ICA Cultural Commission starts assessing the Bill
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29 August – Laleh Eftekhari female member of ICA states the protests are politically motivated
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9 September – The One Million Signature Campaign to Change Discriminatory Laws issues a statement with 2000 signatures of support against the proposals in the Bill
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26 September – Fundamentalist Islamic Women’s Council holds a meeting to discuss the discriminatory laws in the Bill demonstrating that the concerns were widespread
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November – ‘Women’s Field’ publishes postcards stating ‘NO!’ to the Bill and over 2000 are posted to the ICA
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14 October – Fatemeh Aliya another female member of ICA and the head of Women and Family Commission of ICA defends the rights of men to polygamy
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4 December – 550 women activists sign a petition asking to meet with the female members of ICA
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5 December – Grand Ayatollah Sanei issues a fatwa against further marriage without permission/knowledge of first wife.
2008
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January – Housewives start a letter writing campaign to the ICA against polygamy
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2 March – Eshrat Shaegh female member of ICA announces that the Bill would not be discussed further in the Seventh Parliament and the debate is postponed for the eighth ICA
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9 July – The Legal and Judicial Commission of the eighth ICA ratifies the entirety of the Bill without any changes
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12 August – the establishment of ‘Women’s Rights Activists and Groups Coalition Against The Anti Family Protection Bill’
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15 August – Exposure of the fact that 65 male members of ICA have two or more wives
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22 August – 2200 people join the Coalition
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23 August – State media attacks the Coalition
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31 August – another 800 join the coalition
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1 September –8 am: Larijani the Speaker of ICA asks the Legal and Judicial Commission to pay more detailed attention to the contents of the Bill
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1 September – 12-2pm: Over 100 equal rights activists visit with 50 members of ICA and ask for the Bill to be removed
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1 September – 4pm: ICA announces that the Bill will not be debated and refers it back to the Commission for further detailed study
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9 September – Articles 23, 25 and note 4 of article 53 are removed from the Bill
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10 September – ICA ratifies the amended Bill pending further detailed debate
2009
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17 January – Farhad Tajari member of the management Committee of the Legal And Judicial Commission of ICA states that article 23 will be added back in the Bill
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