Official Laws Against Women in Iran - WFAFI 2005

Article 18 of passport law, married women requires their husband's permission to apply for a passport.

Article 21 of Iran’s Constitution indicates: "The government must ensure the rights of women in all respects, in conformity with Islamic criteria..." This leaves it up to the clergymen to interpret the laws pertaining to women.

Article 83 of the Penal Code, called the Law of Hodoud, stipulates that the penalty for fornication is flogging, i.e. 100 strokes of the lash, for unmarried male and female offenders.

Article 102 of Iran’s Constitution indicates: "Women who appear on streets and in public without the prescribed ‘Islamic Hejab’ will be condemned to 74 strokes of the lash.”

Article 115 of Iran’s Constitution states the condition for the presidential candidates the law states that: “The President must come from among the religious and political statesmen (rejal)." The word rejal literally means men of high achievement.

Article 162 "The head of justice department and attorney general must be ‘mojtahed’ [a religious man who is able to issue decree], honest, and knowledgeable in legal subject matters."

Article 167 "The Judge is bound to attempt to rule on each case, on the basis of the codified law. In case of the absence of any such law, he has to deliver his judgment on the basis of official Islamic sources and authentic fatwa.”

Article 209 of Iran’s Constitution states that woman's life is valued only half as much as a man's life. A convicted man who has intentionally slain a woman is subject to execution only after the payment of "Deyeh" by the family of the victim. "Deyeh" is defined as a sum of money that the victim's family has to pay to the assailant's family for the physical damages, dismemberment, or death of the assailant.

Article 300 of the Penal code states that the "Deyeh" of a Muslim woman is half of the "Deyeh" of a Muslim man. By law the life of a woman has half the value of a man in Islamic criminal law in Iran.

Article 105 of the Civil Code "In the relationship between a man and a woman, the man is responsible as head of the family." The Council of Guardians, has decreed, "A woman cannot leave her home without her husband's permission, even to attend her father's funeral."

Article 1117 of the Civil Code states that the husband may ban his wife from any technical profession that conflicts with family life or her character.

Article 1133 of the Civil Code states: A man can divorce his wife whenever he so chooses and does not have to give her advance notice.

Article 102 of the Penal code, states that married offenders (adulterers) are liable to stoning regardless of their gender, but the method laid down for a man stipulates he be buried up to his waist, and a woman up to her neck.

Article 114 of Iran’s Civil codes states: When rajm [stoning] is being administered on a man he must be placed in a pit almost down to his waist, and when administered on a woman she must be placed in a pit almost down to her chest. Such barbaric behavior by the regime includes dictating the style, size and the administration of stoning while differentiating between male vs. female victims. Female victim up to her neck to avoid physical escape, however, even if condemned female victim is able to flee the scene, authorities are obliged to arrest her and execute her by firing squad. As for the male victims, they are buried up to their waist and if able to escape the scene no further punishment awaits them.

Read more at: www.wfafi.org/laws.pdf