Recent events have once again drawn attention to women’s rights abuses in Iran, a phenomenon that has been institutionalized in the very foundations and constitution of the clerical regime ruling the country since 1979. The recent spike in discrimination against women by the regime and regime-backed forces betrays Tehran’s fear of women, who are the driving force behind change in Iran and the fight against Islamic fundamentalism, the bedrock of the Iranian regime.

Iran mounts suppression against women during Rouhani’s tenure

After Hassan Rouhani assumed office as the Iranian regime’s president in 2013, suppression and restrictions against women have been exacerbated, including in the fields of arts, sports, education, and work. The measures were aimed at driving women out of public affairs and circumenting challenges to the state. 

The recent spate of acid attacks against women in Isfahan was the culmination of this misogynistic campaign, in which women were targeted for allegedly having violated the mandatory veiling code set by the regime. This is the regime’s new method of sowing fear in the hearts of the country’s female population.

Although regime officials and affiliated groups disavowed involvement with the attacks, facts suggest otherwise, especially a bill being debated in parliament that would protect individuals who arbitrarily decide to enforce Iran’s mandatory veiling regulations in their own violent manner.

Protests broke out over the horrendous attacks, which were quickly directed toward the regime and its misogynistic laws. Subsequently, security forces cracked down on protestors, and media outlets were berated for having reported the story. Meanwhile, the regime has refrained from arresting and identifying the perpetrators of the acid attacks.

The regime’s hatred of women once again manifested itself in Jahrom, where regime-backed Basij paramilitary forces stabbed a dozen young female students after being incited to attack women by the regime’s religious authorities.

In another abhorent act, in defiance of international appeals, the Iranian regime carried out the execution of Rayhaneh Jabbari, a 26-year-old woman whose crime was defending herself against an intelligence agent who had attempted to rape her. Regime officials later justified and defended the heinous act. 

Jabbari’s execution was met with worldwide outrage.  Amnesty International called it  “another bloody stain on Iran’s human rights record.” Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, expressed shock over Jabbari’s execution and, in his latest findings, raised concern over human rights situation in Iran and worsening conditions for Iranian women.

Jabbari’s story is just one of countless tragedies that happen every day in Iran, in which people meet their doom at the end of a noose without due process.  Iran is record-holder in number of executions per-capita, and is the biggest executioner of juvenile offenders.

Misogyny, the pillar of the Iranian regime

Since the mullahs rose to power in Iran, discrimination against women has been the hallmark of the ruling regime’s behavior, which draws its mindset from Islamic fundamentalism.  Following the 1979 revolution, women became subject to mandatory veiling rules, were cast out of most governmental institutions and prominent roles in the country, and were marginalized and forced into their homes. 

Iranian women have been deprived of their most basic rights under dubious fundamentalist laws pertaining to religion and god, and are officially classified as second-class citizens.

The Iranian regime has refrained from complying with international appeals to improve women’s rights because it sees its survival in subduing women through repression and forcing them to abide by its medieval standards.

Women lead the fight against Islamic fundamentalism

Contrary to the regime’s wishes, Iranian women have become the leading force against religious fascism and have over the years become symbols of resistance against the ruling regime’s tyranny, both in popular social movements and in the regime’s prisons, where the most brutal tortures are practiced against women.

Ironically, the largest and most organized opposition movement to the Iranian regime, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), is led by women. Its leader, Mrs.  Maryam Rajavi, has presented a ten-point plan for the establishment of a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Iran which respects equal rights for men and women. 

The PMOI has played a major role in denouncing Iran’s human rights violations, its meddling in neighboring countries, and its illicit nuclear program, all of which have become major global concerns in past years. 

Accordingly, the Iranian regime has tried to destroy the PMOI by executing and assassinating more than 100,000 of its members and supporters -- including thousands of women.  Female PMOI members have especially been treated harshly in the regime’s prisons, and Iran’s torturers and executioners have not hesitated in executing pregnant women or torturing mothers in front of their children when they were found to be affiliated with the PMOI.

To the regime’s dismay, the women of PMOI have through their resistance and perseverance become a beacon of hope for women in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East where women’s rights are being violated under the name of religion.

Presently, about 1,000 of these women are in Camp Liberty, Iraq, a former U.S.  base adjacent to Baghdad International Airport, where thousands of PMOI members are besieged by Iraqi forces loyal to the Iranian regime.

The need for regime change in Iran

Apart from its deplorable record of women’s rights violation, the Iranian regime is also a regional and global threat. The Iranian regime is infamously renowned for its role in exporting terrorism; its meddling in Iraq and Syria has allowed the Islamic State to rise in power and influence in past months. And last but not least, Iran continues to strive to remain a nuclear threshold state.

With every passing day, it becomes more evident that regime change in Iran is the key to the establishment of peace and stability in the region and the removal of the mounting threat of Islamic fundamentalism.

This is a feat that will be performed by a movement that respects and recognizes women’s rights as a necessity to any democratic society, which makes it pertinent that we defend women’s rights and empower women in the fight against extremism and fundamentalism. 

Amir Basiri is an Iranian human rights activist and supporter of democratic regime change in Iran.

Follow him on Twitter: @Amir_bas