Rooyesh

Asharq Al-Awsat reports from Tehran. With respect to Lebanon, the Iranian public is divided between two distinctive symbols: Hezbollah and Lebanese pop stars like Nancy Ajram and Haifa Wahbi. One of the three names is bound to be brought up when Iranians talk to a Lebanese. Devout Muslims appreciate Hezbollah to a great degree whilst others search for music videos featuring Lebanese beauties. Opposite the Khomeini tomb, which lies on the outskirts of the Iranian capital, even the Iranian bus driver watches these music videos on a small television as he rests while his passengers visit the tomb. As some Iranians dream of obtaining a smuggled version of Nancy Ajram’s latest music video, others dream of going to Lebanon to become martyrs.

Hussein, an Arabic-Persian translator, says he dreams of joining Hezbollah, fighting the Israelis and becoming a martyr. He hopes that one day the party would expand and admit non-Lebanese volunteers so that he would be able to carry out his duty. Hussein openly expressed his admiration for Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and stated that he listens to “resistance” songs, the lyrics to which he does not understand fully, however, he feels glory and dignity as he plays them. Despite that Hezbollah emerged from the 1978 Iranian Revolution, the 25-year-old organization has become a “beacon” for many Iranian politicians who race to portray good relations with it, according to a former Iranian official in a private gathering held recently in Tehran. He complained that some Iranian figures visit Lebanon and request to meet Hassan Nasrallah then use it to display influence in Tehran. A number of Iranian groups blame the current leadership for its extravagant support of Hezbollah at the expense of the Iranian treasury and relations with Arab states and Lebanese parties. Sheikh Muhammad Shariati, the political advisor to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, believes that Iran has “cornered itself in relation to Lebanon because of the party [Hezbollah].” “The Iranian opposition has no problem backing Hezbollah as a resistance movement. This is essential. However, Iran needs to establish relations with all parties.” “During the Lebanese Civil War, Iran had established ties with all parties but today Iranian diplomacy is poking its nose in Lebanon. Relations have to be set up with everyone. This is lacking in Lebanon,” he told Asharq Al Awsat. Sheikh Shariati asked, “A year ago, this [Lebanese] government was acceptable to all parties, so how did it become a traitor with connections abroad overnight?” He referred to the presence of “parties that reject the president and do not recognize his legitimacy. Iran cannot break its relations with the head of the state. Some boycott the prime minister and call him illegitimate and that is their right, they are Lebanese. However, as diplomats, we need to maintain balanced relations with everyone.” There are many illustrations of Iran’s association with Hezbollah, and these heighten in misfortune. During last summer’s war with Israel, pictures of Hassan Nasrallah could be seen from the airport to the center of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Any visitor to the presidential headquarters can see Nasrallah’s photo conspicuously placed in the office of President Ahmadinejad’s bodyguards as well as in the guards’ office of the Khomeini house in Tehran. Ahmadinejad even broke protocol by rushing down the stairs of his presidential headquarters to receive Nasrallah and would have opened the car door himself were it not for the bodyguards who opened it. The special status that Nasrallah enjoys with Khamenei is also evident. Sheikh Ali Akbar Mohtashemi, a key co-founder of the party, emphasized that there is a special bond between Nasrallah and Sayyed Khamenei and such appreciation was manifest in Khamenei’s message to Nasrallah during the Israeli war. It was remarkable that he described Nasrallah as a “brave Arab leader.” The head of the state and government in Iran does not have a considerable effect upon Hezbollah. The support that it receives is non-governmental and neither did it diminish during both terms of reformist President Mohammad Khatami nor increase under Ahmadinejad, except due to having to make up for the damages incurred by war. Hezbollah gains its [financial] support through “legitimate money” paid through Iranian taxes, namely, Zakat and Khums, a 20 percent of the annual net income, the spending of which is the responsibility of the office of the Supreme Guide. Similarly, Nasrallah is his legitimate representative to Lebanon and is entitled to receive and collect the legitimate funding. This includes $300 US million that the party received and paid in compensation for damages resulting from the Israeli aggression on the south of Beirut, southern Lebanon and Bekaa Valley immediately after the war. Hezbollah maintains good relations with Iranian military institutions and it was the Revolutionary Guard that had overseen the training of Hezbollah guerilla fighters. In order to acquire new technology or to become acquainted with new weaponry, trainers only need travel to Tehran. Thousands of youngsters travel to Tehran every year to visit Shia holy shrines that are well promoted for by the Iranians. One Iranian diplomat even said that it was difficult to travel between Beirut and Tehran onboard the scheduled weekly flights on Saturdays and Wednesdays, which indicates a complex relation that is a mix of political, religious and ideological elements and is refined by regional events.

Delaram Ali, woman’s rights defender, appeared in the 15th District of the Revolutionary Courts, in Tehran on Monday July 2, 2007, following a summons to court. In court, Delaram was handed a sentence for her participation in the peaceful gathering of women’s rights defenders in June 2006, in Hafte Tir Square, which ended with police violence and brutality and the arrest of 70 protesters.

While in court, Delaram Ali was allowed to view her sentence and copy by hand the verdict for her own records. Delaram Ali, who is a women’s rights activist and student and a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, was sentenced for her participation in this peaceful protest to 2 years and 10 months prison term (which must be served in full) and 10 lashes. The sentence issued by Judge Salavati, in charge of the 15th District of the Revolutionary Courts, relied on ammendments 500, 610 and 618 of the Penal Code finding Delaram guilty of propaganda against the state, sentencing her to a six month prison term, participation in the June 12th protest, sentencing her to a two-year prison term, and disruption of public order sentencing her to a 4 month prison term and 10 lashes. This sentence which totals 2 years and 10 months jail term and 10 lashes, was commuted to this woman’s rights defender at a time, when similar cases against other women’s rights defenders charged in relation to the June 2006 protest, have received much lighter sentences. This disparity in sentencing demonstrates lack of unity among the courts and judges in treatment of women’s rights activists. The verdict issued by the court in the case of Delaram Ali, based its findings on a report by the Tehran Branch of the Intelligence Ministry, which claimed that Ms. Ali was guilty of the charges against her, and found her to be a “criminal”. Such skewed findings by courts, influenced by the conspiracy and security oriented perspective of Intellegence officials, not only undermines and brings into question the independence of the court system and judiciary, but threatens the concepts of democracy and respect for human and civil rights. Additionally, failure to officially recognize civil action, by viewing civil activists as “criminals” and forcing women’s rights defenders to endure lashings or state sanctioned physical torture, is in fact the most contradictory and most illegitimate aspect of the sentence issued in the case of Delaram. Prior to Delaram’s sentence other women’s rights activists had been issued sentences in relation to the June 12th protest in Hafte Tir Square, which demanded equal rights for women under the law, as follows:

1) Fariba Davoodi Mohajer: Three years suspended sentence and 1 year prison term;

2) Noushin Ahmadi Khorasan: Two years suspended sentence and 6 months jail term;

3) Parvin Ardalan: Two years suspended sentence and 6 months jail term;

4) Shahla Entesari: Two years suspended sentence and 6 months jail term;

5) Sussan Tahmasebi: One year and 6 months suspended sentence and 6 months jail term;

6) Azadeh Forghani: 2 years suspended sentence; and

7) Bahareh Hedayat: 2 years suspended sentence.

Sentences for Maryam Zia, Nasim Soltan Beigi, and Alieh Eghdam doost, also defendants in the June 12, 2006 protest in Hafte Tir Square have yet to be issued. It should be noted that suspended sentences are in fact subject to implementation if the defendant is found guilty of any crime in the course of 5 years following the sentence. In this way, the courts and intelligence ministry aim to isolate activists and make them inactive in the social realm.

Source: Change for Equality

Iran’s supreme leader has signaled a willingness to reinterpret Islamic law more favorably to women’s rights — but not by following Western conventions, state media and his official Web site reported Thursday. “Some issues about women, which exist in religious jurisprudence, are not the final say. It is possible to interpret new points through research by a skillful jurist,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Web site quoted him as saying Wednesday during a speech to commemorate national women’s day.

The comments by the Shiite cleric, who has final say over all state matters, came amid international rights groups’ criticism of Iran for giving prison sentences to several women’s rights activists. Iran’s interpretation of Islamic law imposes tight restrictions on women, such as requiring them to have a male guardian’s permission to work or travel. Women are not allowed to become judges, and a man’s court testimony is considered twice as important as a woman’s. Yet Iranian women have more rights than their counterparts in Saudi Arabia and some other conservative Muslim countries. They can drive, vote and run for most public offices. Khamenei criticized activists who have pushed for a foreign concept of women’s rights, according to video of his speech shown on state-run television Thursday. “In our country … some activist women, and some men, have been trying to play with Islamic rules in order to match international conventions related to women,” he said. “This is wrong.” Human Rights Watch recently criticized Iran for sentencing several women activists to prison for participating in a rally in June 2006 to protest the country’s laws dealing with women. The women were part of “Change for Equality,” a group campaigning for specific reforms, including making women’s testimony in court carry the same weight as that of men, equality of inheritance rights between men and women and the elimination of polygamy. Khamenei praised the role of women in Iran and said the emphasis on their maternal role in Islam “does not mean opposition to the presence of women in various aspects of social life at all,” the Web site reported. He also said Westerners had “discredited” women by using them to fulfill “illegitimate” sexual desires, apparently referring to prostitution and premarital sex, which are banned by Islamic law.

Soure: Time