NCPDA Statement
Contact: Nasser Rashidi
Dir. Tel: 202-487-6989
May 25, 2007
Oppression of Women and Spread of Islamic Extremism
In recent months, the Iranian women have been the subject of an alarmingly violent crackdown on their basic human rights. Pictures and the story of bloodied and harassed Iranian women fill the pages of many website, blogs, and news outlets (Middle East Times, 5/07).
In its 2007 annual report, Amnesty International notes that “the human rights situation deteriorated, with civil society facing increasing restrictions on fundamental freedoms of expression and association”. It adds, “two people were reportedly stoned to death. Sentences of flogging, amputation and eye-gouging continued to be passed….Torture, especially during periods of pre-trial detention, remained commonplace””.
The mullahs prescribe to an extremist, fundamentalist ideology that promotes misogyny. Iranian government emphasizes the differences between the sexes. Its policies and beliefs promote the male as the superior sex and hence the female a slave at his service. By this approach, they negate a woman’s human identity. Iran’s fundamentalists consider woman as sinister and satanic and the embodiment of sin and seduction. Sharia law has been the perfect framework for implementation of the mullah’s strategy.
What makes this significant to the fight against extremist Islam and associated terrorism is Iran’s calculated strategy for expansion. From Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, to Lebanon, extremist Islamists are demanding a form of law practiced by the Iranian government. In Pakistan for example, fundamentalists have demanded, among others, the “imposition of sharia law” before they would release policemen they have taken hostage in a mosque. (Financial Times, 5/24/07)
The human rights advocacy groups including NCPDA, and many Iranian opposition leaders have argued that Iranian government has for 3 decades served as the logistical, political, economic, and more importantly, ideological head to these extremist movements. Worldwide tolerance of mullah’s brutal treatment of the Iranian women (based on 15th century laws) has unfortunately empowered the regime.
This week, Iran again defied the international community by refusing to meet U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding suspension of uranium enrichment. In light of the above, Iran’s procurement of nuclear weapons would be an additional tragedy Iranians and the world would be forced to endure.
The National Coalition of Pro-Democracy Advocates denounces the continued violations of women’s rights in Iran and urges all concerned citizens, the United Nations, NGOs, policy makers, and human rights activists to fiercely confront Iran’s treatment of its female population.
