With the executions of seven women in one month, Raisi set a six-fold record in the suppression and executions of women
There was a shocking increase in the executions of women in December. The clerical regime hanged at least 39 persons, including seven women from November 22 until December 21, in various prisons across Iran.
Also, in December, the clerical regime embarked on another wave of arrests, handing down prison sentences and increasing pressure on civil activists and political prisoners.
The steady escalation of state-sponsored violence against women has led to a drastic increase in domestic violence, including in honor killings and the murder of wives.
In December, other shocking news included the registration in nine months of the marriages of 18 girl children between 5 and 9 years and 2,405 girl children between 10 and 14 in Sistan and Baluchestan Province in southeastern Iran. Forced early marriage is a phenomenon stemming from widespread poverty in this province. Of course, other provinces are not doing better either.
In the circumstances where Iranian women and society are grappling with poverty and deprivation, the clerical regime has mobilized full force to implement its Population Growth Plan, promote early and child marriages, and enforce the mandatory Hijab laws in government offices as a top priority on its agenda.
This monthly report overviews the rise in the executions of women and the stepped-up state-sponsored violence against women to impose the mandatory Hijab.
Carrying out half of the annual average of executions of women in just one month
The seven hanging executions of women in Iran during just one month are noteworthy. Since 2013, the average number of women executed in Iran has been 15 per year. The number of women hanged in Iran from November 22 to December 21 amounts to half of the average number of women executed in Iran every year.
The Iranian regime executed some 360 persons in 2021, compared to the 255 executed in 2020.
The 100 more executions during the year and the executions of 7 women in just one month are the outcomes of the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi. The regime’s president is known as “the butcher of Tehran” for his direct role in the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in just a few months in 1988.
By appointing a mass murderer, Ebrahim Raisi, as president, the mullahs’ supreme leader Ali Khamenei had planned to step up domestic suppression, escalate arrests and executions, and ramp up pressure on political prisoners.
The identities of executed women
Four of the seven women hanged over the past month have not been identified.
The authorities of the Central Prison of Yasuj carried out the death penalties for a couple on November 23, 2021, on murder charges.
Maryam Khakpour, 41, was hanged on November 25 in Dastgerd Prison of Isfahan on drug-related charges. She had repeatedly claimed innocence saying the drugs belonged to her husband, sentenced to 18 years.
A 2017 amendment to the Iranian regime’s law strictly limits the use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses. The executions on drug-related charges have nevertheless continued.
On December 9, 2021, six inmates, including three unidentified women, were hanged in the Central Prison of Kerman.
Massoumeh Zare’i, 40, was hanged in the Prison of Amol at dawn on December 14, 2021. Massoumeh was a victim of domestic violence. She had a 21-year-old daughter and was in prison for seven years for the murder of her husband, a drug addict who often battered her and did not consent to divorce.
Fatemeh Aslani was hanged on December 19, 2021, in Dastgerd Prison of Isfahan for murdering her husband. She had been on death row for nine years despite pleading not guilty.
No to the appeasement of the murderers of Iranian women
The Iranian regime is the world’s chief executioner of women.
Of course, the actual number of executions by the regime must be considered higher than the figures obtained by the Iranian Resistance and other human rights groups. The clerical regime executes many in secret and away from the public’s eyes. Execution is one of the mullahs’ main governing tools.
In the face of growing societal discontent, the inhuman clerical regime has found the only way to preserve its rule in intensifying executions, torture, and repression.
The Iranian Resistance has repeatedly urged the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, the UN Human Rights Council, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the European Union and its member states, to strongly condemn the growing number of executions in Iran and to take immediate action to rescue prisoners on death row. With this month’s surge in executions, this imperative becomes ever more urgent.
The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) genuinely believes that women are the force for change. It urges all women’s rights advocates and activists worldwide to play an active role concerning the fate of their sisters in Iran and help stop the executions of women in Iran.
Women should urge their governments to make all economic and political relations with Tehran contingent on a halt to executions, especially the executions of women in Iran and torture of political prisoners.
They should urge their governments to refer the dossier of the clerical regime’s human rights abuses to the UN Security Council. The UN and its member states should form an international tribunal to hold the leaders of the Iranian regime, especially its supreme leader Ali Khamenei, its president Ebrahim Raisi, its Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, and its parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, accountable for four decades of crimes against humanity and genocide.
The freedom-loving women worldwide must not withstand their governments negotiating and shaking hands with a murderous regime, let alone appeasing it.
The women of Iran look to their sisters around the world to lend them support in their tortuous struggle for freedom and equality.
Stricter restrictions on Hijab laws top Ra’isi government’s agenda
Throughout December, the clerical regime’s various agencies undertook measures to impose further restrictions on women by tightening the rules on mandatory Hijab.
Gholam-Ali Safaii Bushehri, a mullah representing Khamenei in Bushehr, said, “The rules on Hijab and chastity must be enforced in Bushehr, particularly on the beach, as an example. Then the rules must be implemented in other cities throughout the province.” He added that a “cultural garrison” had begun its work on Hijab and chastity in cooperation with other government, law enforcement, and cultural agencies. “The garrison’s objective is to enforce the law. There are laws for Hijab and chastity, and everyone must get involved,” said Safaii Bushehri. (The state-run Mostaghel newspaper – December 16, 2021)
A group of seminary students in Qom filed a complaint against 15 Iranian actresses for not flouting the Hijab rules and posting photos in their virtual accounts without wearying the veil. Tehran’s Police Chief, Hossein Rahimi, also declared that they had issued warnings to some people in this regard.
The IRGC news agency, FARS, launched a campaign on December 24, 2021, calling for a ban on the attendance of male physicians to their female clients during delivery and surgical operations.
Saeed Ghazanfari is the general director of the Behesht-e Zahra Organization. He also announced a ban on displaying pictures of deceased women who did not cover their hair in their photos. He said the Behesht-e Zahra Security would prevent engraving “unconventional” images on gravestones.
Following these announcements and measures, Ebrahim Raisi ordered government officials on December 26 to implement the ratification of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution regarding Hijab and Chastity. He stressed that the officials should not lose “even one day.”
Subsequently, Ensieh Khaz’ali, deputy for women and family affairs, traveled to Qom on December 30. In a meeting with representatives of women in that province, she said, “We have many laws on Hijab. Unfortunately, we have not implemented them to this date. Therefore, the government will get decisively involved to enforce these laws.”
She also claimed that the “enemies” had targeted the Islamic generation in Iran. She stressed that failure to “right” the virtual space could be “lethal.” She added, “We must take up arms in the cultural field to transfer our genuine Islamic identity to the young people.”
Before her, the Cyber Police (FATA) had announced that they would deal with “any form of breaking of norms” in the virtual space. (The state-run IQNA news agency – December 26, 2021)
In line with these remarks, various regime officials have called for unofficial forces to suppress women who defy the Hijab rules.
The head of the Islamic Council of Qom declared, “We need more than ever to adhere to the principle of promoting virtue and forbidding vice.” He added that this should not be considered a “government duty” but a “public duty.” (The state-run Mehr news agency – December 20, 2021)
Interior Minister: If we were to receive a blow, it is going to be from women
Following these calls, the state news agencies reported on December 28 that a woman had been arrested for confronting a mullah who had “promoted virtue.” The mullah had hit her with his cane and told her to cover up herself. Instead of being passive, the woman confronted the assailant mullahs by throwing his turban to the ground and trampling it.
The video clip of this confrontation became viral on social media and met public acclaim.
Another state-backed mullah reacted to this incident. He tweeted, “If we do not take this image and this warning seriously, and if we deceive ourselves, we would shortly witness the next stages.”
It is worth noting that on December 9, in the first nationwide gathering of general directors of women and family affairs of provincial governorates, the regime’s Interior Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, said, “If the Revolution (i.e., the clerical regime) were to receive a blow, it would be from women.” (The state-run Entekhab.ir – December 19, 2021)
The regime’s Interior Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, is one of the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Intelligence (IRGC Intelligence) founders. In 1988, he became the first commander of the terrorist Quds Force that carries out the regime’s terrorist operations abroad. Vahidi is subject to international arrest warrants for his involvement in the Iranian regime’s terrorism. He was also among the masterminds and perpetrators of the AMIA bombing in Argentina.
