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NEWS & LETTERS, April 2004IWD in IranFollowing the recent sham election in Iran, protests have been taking place around the country, including on International Women's Day. Below is an eyewitness account of that gathering from a woman participant. * * * Tehran--International Women’s Day was to be celebrated in the open amphitheater of Laleh Park with a call for opposing violence against women. When I entered the park, plainclothes police were roaming the area. Thirty to forty women had already gathered. They announced that the Ministry of Interior had cancelled the gathering as of 11 a.m. But the women said they would not leave. We sat on the steps of the amphitheater as we were surrounded by the police. We could see about 500 women, some with their husbands and small children, gather on the other side of the police barrier. We started to clap and join hands and sing and circle the area. Then we all sat down again. We listened to each participant read a prepared text or raise a slogan: "Sign The Human Rights Convention Against Violence Against Women"; "Free Afsaneh Noorozi" (a woman sentenced to death for having killed her rapist--a police chief--in self defense); "Free Kobra Rahmanpour" (a woman sentenced to death for killing her mother-in-law in self defense after she attacked her with a kitchen knife); "Provide Support For Runaway Girls"; "Abolish Sexual Discrimination." As we were leaving the area, one of the participants who was interviewed by the BBC and the Voice of Germany, gave the following statement: "For centuries women have been taught to be quiet, take head blows, be slaves. But I am not a slave, I will not remain silent. I will not be patient. I am rebellious. I am a mother, generous and kind. But I will defend my rights with sharp claws and more importantly with a passionate mind and language. I am a woman rebelling against all tradition and defending my wholeness as a woman." Suddenly the police presence increased threefold. The plainclothes policemen were trying to find the woman who gave that interview. They caught two women and said, "here are the political ones." They started attacking us viciously with sticks and pouring insults at us. We ran away. |
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