The mullahs’ misogynous regime began its systematic suppression of women immediately after it took power in Iran by adopting laws and enforcing social regulations. In this way it institutionalized state-sanctioned violence against women. The laws of the clerical regime not only permit but facilitate violence against women.
Laws on punishment
Laws on marriage, divorce, etc.
Polygamy
Freedom of choice
Divorce
Child’s custody and guardianship
Employment
Laws on inheritance
Laws on testimony
Notable Quotable
Article 102 of the Islamic Punishment Law: “Women, who appear on streets and in public without the religious veil, will be sentenced to 74 lashes.”
Article 638 of the Islamic Punishment Law: “Mal-veiling and unveiling are considered crimes, and their punishment is imprisonment from 10 days to two months or a fine from 50 to 500 thousand riyals.”
Article 330: “A woman’s Dyieh is half a man’s.”
Article 209 of the Civil Code: “If a Muslim man deliberately murders a Muslim woman, he will be sentenced to retribution in kind, but the family of the victim must pay half the amount of his blood-money (Dyieh) as compensation [in order to get him executed in retribution].”
Article 102 of Islamic Punishment Law: “During stoning, a man is put in a hole up to his waist and a woman up to her chest.”
Article 48 of the Penal Code: “Children are free from penal responsibility. A nine-year-old girl can be punished as an adult by flogging, execution and even stoning.”
Laws on marriage, divorce, etc.
Polygamy
A man can have four legal wives and infinite concubines.
Freedom of choice
Civil Code: “Father or grandfather can wed their daughter to any man before the girl reaches puberty. A father or grandfather can even wed their one-year-old daughter to any man they want.” (ISNA June 11, 2002)
Article 1043 of the Civil Code: “Marriage for girls is conditional on the consent of the father or grandfather.”
Article 1210 of the Civil Code: “Age of puberty for a boy is at 15 full lunar years and for a girl is at nine full lunar years.”
Divorce
Article 1133 of the Civil Code: “A husband is not required to present any reasons or grounds for divorce. On the other hand, women are not given the right to instigate divorce because they are prone to emotional and irrational decision-making.”
Article 1133 of the Civil Code: “A husband can divorce his wife whenever he chooses.” There are no limits to the husband’s authority in this respect. Whenever he so chooses, he can act, even in his wife’s absentia.
Child’s custody and guardianship
Article 1180: “The minor will be under the custody of his father or his father’s descendants.”
Article 1169: “A mother will be given priority for her child’s custody for two years after birth. Any time after that the father has custody except for children who remain in the custody of the mother until they are seven years old.”
Article 1170: “If a mother remarries during the period when she has the custody of the child, the father will take custody.”
Employment
Article 1117 Civil Code: “A husband can deny his wife any profession or job which would run counter to the interests of the family or the wife’s dignity.”
Bill passed by government, October 1979: “Women need their husbands’ permission for employment.”
Article 1114: “The wife must live in a house chosen by the husband, unless that choice is given to the wife.”
Laws on inheritance
Article 913 of the Civil Code: “A widower inherits one half of the estate of his wife as a widow inherits only one fourth of the estate of her husband provided that the deceased leaves no children or grand children as heirs, in which case the widow inherits one eighth while the widower inherits one fourth of the estate.”
Article 907 of the Civil Code: “If the deceased leaves sons and daughters, each son inherits and takes twice as much as each daughter.”
Laws on testimony
Article 237 of the Civil Code: “In cases involving death and murder, the testimony of two fair-minded men is necessary (i.e. a woman’s testimony does not count)… In cases of second degree murder or inadvertent murder, the testimony of two men or one fair-minded man and two fair-minded women are required. In other words, where the testimony of a woman is accepted, a woman’s testimony counts half as that of a man.”
Article 189 of the Civil Code: “Waging war on God and corrupting the earth” is proved [in a court of law] with the “testimony of two fair-minded men only”.
Article 170 of the Civil Code: “In order to prove whether some one is intoxicated, the testimony of two fair-minded men is accepted and a woman’s testimony is not accepted.”
Article 199 of the Civil Code: “To prove a theft that deserves punishment [of amputation], the testimony of two fair-minded men is necessary, and a woman’s testimony is not accepted.”
Notable Quotable
Fatwa by Khomeini: “A woman who refuses to submit should be battered, and on the other hand, the law grants the husband the right to deprive a woman of everything, even food, should she still refuse to submit.”
Khomeini declared: “Hijab is a requirement, and those who reject it must be condemned to Takfir (execution).” (Ressalat – Jan. 6, 1978)
The regime’s General Prosecutor announced: “If a mal-veiled woman is arrested, there is no need for a court or a trial, since the crime is already established.” Public flogging of women in the streets is common.
The Islamic Council of Guardians decreed: “A woman does not have the right to leave her home without her husband’s permission, not even to attend her father’s funeral procession. A woman is completely at the service of her husband.”
