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MIDDLE EAST>Iran
Middle East | Iran | Activism

Some Iranian women take off hijabs as hard-liners push back

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The simple act of walking has become a display of defiance for a young Iranian woman who often moves in Tehran’s streets without a compulsory headscarf, or hijab. With every step, she risks harassment or even arrest by Iran’s morality police whose job is to enforce the strict dress code imposed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. “I have to confess it is really, really scary,” the 30-year-old fire-safety consultant said in a WhatsApp audio message, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions. But she is also hopeful, saying she believes the authorities find it
Middle East | Iran | Culture

An Iranian Boxer Won Her First Official Match. Now She Says She Can’t Go Back Home.

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Sadaf Khadem, the first Iranian woman to compete in an official boxing match, won't return home to Iran after learning about an arrest warrant issued against her coach, she announced Wednesday. Khadem was in the western French town of Royan for the fight against boxer Anne Chauvin on Saturday. She won the fight while decked out in a green tank top and red shorts with a white waistband, matching the Iranian flag. Her head was also uncovered while she traded blows, all of which are against Iran's mandatory dress code for women.
Middle East | Iran | Activism

Iran arrests 29 women as headscarf protests intensify

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Tehran police have arrested 29 women for appearing in public without a headscarf as protests against the dress code in force since the Islamic revolution of 1979 intensify, Iranian media reported Friday. Those arrested were accused of public order offences and referred to the state prosecutor's office, the Fars, ILNA and Tasnim news agencies reported without elaborating. Chief prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri had played down the escalating protests on Wednesday, saying they were "trivial" and "childish" moves possibly incited by foreigners.
Middle East | Iran | Activism

Iran frees woman who took off headscarf – lawyer

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An Iranian woman detained after defiantly taking off her headscarf and holding it on a stick in Tehran has been freed, a human rights lawyer says. The woman - whose name remains unknown - became the face of protests in the country in December, and images of her were widely shared on social media. Iranian officials have so far made no public comments on the issue. Meanwhile, images of another three women repeating the act have gone viral after appearing on social media. The three unidentified women were also protesting in the capital - one at what appeared to be the same spot as the
Middle East | Iran | Activism

Concordia professor jailed in Iran for ‘dabbling in feminism, security’

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A Montreal-based university professor being held in an Iranian jail is being investigated for “dabbling in feminism and security matters,” according to her family. Homa Hoodfar’s niece, Amanda Ghahremani, said the Tehran public prosecutor made a statement to Iranian media on the case on Friday. Ghahremani said the family doesn’t know whether Hoodfar has been charged with a crime. She said the prosecutor’s statement was the first indication of why the 65-year-old professor has been held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison since her arrest on June 6.
Middle East | Iran | Activism

The Woman Who Broke the Rules and Made History by Running the First International Marathon in Iran

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On the second Saturday of April, 44-year-old Mahsa Torabi put on a pair of black running pants and a blue sweater with green reflective stripes. That day, she would become the first woman to ever publicly finish a marathon in Iran. She chose a pink-patterned hijab, and she set out for Naqsh-e Rustam, an ancient necropolis in Fars Province, right across the Persian Gulf from Kuwait. It was 6 a.m., and the only sign that the first international marathon in Iran’s history would take place that morning was a ribbon across the starting line. Torabi took one photo in the dark of the desolate cour
Middle East | Iran | Politics

Iran’s new parliament has more women than clerics

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 Iran’s new parliament will have more women than clerics when its members are sworn in next month, a first in the Islamic republic and a sign of the country's evolving politics. Official results on Saturday, May 1, showed that reformist and moderate politicians allied with President Hassan Rouhani won a big victory in second round parliamentary elections. The outcome saw them outnumber their conservative rivals – many hardliners lost seats – for the first time since 2004 and capped a remarkable comeback for reformists after years of isolation. After the second round of election
Middle East | Iran | Politics

Iran bars female MP for ‘shaking hands with unrelated man’

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A newly elected female MP in Iran is to be barred from entering the next parliament apparently because she is alleged to have shaken hands with an unrelated man during a trip abroad. Minoo Khaleghi, a reformist politician and environmental activist, has denied claims about the handshake, which would be illegal under Iran’s Islamic law. Khaleghi was elected in February as a new member of the Iranian parliament, the Majlis, from the constituency of Isfahan, the country’s top tourist destination. She had been qualified to run, meaning that the powerful guardian council, which vets al
Middle East | Iran | Adventure

Women’s rock climbing gains foothold in Iran

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In the mountains of northwestern Iran, Farnaz Esmaeilzadeh clings to a sheer rock face, ignoring the dizzying height and icy wind as she searches for the next handhold. The 27-year-old, who has been rock climbing since she was 13, has distinguished herself in international competitions despite the barriers she faces as a female athlete in conservative Iran. Gyms in the Islamic Republic, including the facility where she practices on an artificial climbing wall, have separate and limited hours for women. Rock climbers, like other female athletes, must adhere to the country’s conservative
Middle East | Iran | Politics

Rouhani calls for more Iranian women to ‘lean in’ to politics

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Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani encouraged greater female participation in politics and culture at a conference Feb. 8 titled “Women, Moderation and Development.” Rouhani said that women’s rights in Iran have come a long way since the first days of the 1979 revolution. He recalled that during those days, there were some clerics with “extreme ideologies” who had religious objections to women participating in protests. The clerics had gone as far as asking women to not chant slogans so that their voices would not be heard by unrelated men. Rouhani said that the founder of the Isla
Middle East | Iran | Activism

Was This the Poem That Sent a Young Iranian Woman to Prison?

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An award-winning poet has been taken into custody by Iranian officials after a video of her reading a poem critical of the head coverings women must wear in the Islamic Republic of Iran went viral. Hila Sedighi was arrested at a Tehran airport Thursday upon return from a trip to the United Arab Emirates, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights, a nonprofit advocacy group based in New York City.
Middle East | Iran | Religion

Establishment ‘ignoring rights of female religious students’, says Iran women’s colleges head

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Iran’s religious establishment has been accused of gender discrimination by those within its own ranks, who say it is ignoring the rights of the country’s 60,000 strong female religious students. Mahmoud Reza Jamsheedi, the director of Iran’s female religious colleges, has revealed that the conservative male dominated Howzeh Elmiyehs (translated as centres of religious knowledge) “are badly failing to meet the ever increasing needs of their female and new students”. “Our female students are suffering from malnutrition and poverty similar to other Iranian peopl
Middle East | Iran | Culture

Iran impounds thousands of women’s cars for “improper” hijabs

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Since March, Iranian traffic police have seized more than 40,000 cars from women driving while “improperly” wearing their hijab, or headscarf, reports Agence France Presse. A spokesperson for the traffic police told the AFP that most of the cases have been referred to the judiciary, and in some cases, women drivers have faced fines or received warnings for their “bad hijab.” This comes after Iranian police warned last month that women could risk having their cars impounded for a week if caught driving without a hijab, or wearing a hijab that shows too much hair. The Guardian reported
Middle East | Iran | Business

Women in Iran Are Ready to Show They Mean Business

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Iranian money manager Mona Hajialiasghar got her first big career break the same year the world took notice of her country’s nuclear ambitions. Thirteen years after starting out as an asset manager in Tehran, she’s chief operating officer of Kardan Investment Bank, which oversees about $300 million invested in Iran. As her country edges toward an historic agreement that promises to plug it back into the global economy, she already sees more women joining her. “The presence of women in Iran in the workplace and in higher education is much more serious now compared to when I first st

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