Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday celebrated “Islam’s view” of women, praising Iranian women who were “martyred, handicapped, or imprisoned” fighting his regime’s wars at the “summit of glory.”
Iran’s state-run Tasnim news agency quoted Khamenei telling a “national congress held in commemoration of female martyrs” that Iranian women should be celebrated for the “faith, devotion, and courage” they showed in “demonstrations leading to the 1979 Revolution, the Sacred Defense in the 1980s, and their active presence in the fields of science, technology, research, literature and arts.”
“The Sacred Defense” is Iran’s name for its war with Iraq in the 1980s. Iran holds a week-long commemoration of the war every September, although last year’s celebrations were muted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tasnim reported:
Highlighting the strong performance of Iranian women in the social and political arenas and in managerial posts, Ayatollah Khamenei said their devotion to the healthcare programs and their services amid the treacherous conditions after the coronavirus pandemic signify the promotion of Iranian women, which has been achieved thanks to the Islamic establishment and Islamic values.
Iran is one of the worst places on Earth from the standpoint of women’s rights. Iran treats women as second-class citizens in countless ways, from diminished political rights to its infamous headscarf laws. Iranian women complain the legal system is heavily weighted against them when they report physical abuse and sexual assault.
Activists in Paris laid flowers near the Iranian embassy on Monday to show support for Yassaman Aryani, a women’s rights activist who was sentenced to 16 years in prison along with her mother for the crime of handing out flowers on a Tehran train and advocating the right of women to choose not to wear Islamic headgear. Aryani and her mother were not wearing headscarves when they were arrested.
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