VZCZCXRO7925
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK
DE RUEHDIR #0017/01 0871508
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 281508Z MAR 07
FM IRAN RPO DUBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0082
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHDIR/IRAN RPO DUBAI 0075
RHEFDHP/DIA DHP-1 WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 0077

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 IRAN RPO DUBAI 000017 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  3/28/2017 
TAGS: IR PGOV PHUM
SUBJECT: IRANIAN WOMEN TAKE UP BANNER OF REFORM 
 
REF: 2006 IRAN RPO DUBAI 0009 
 
RPO DUBAI 00000017  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Jillian Burns, Director, Iran Regional Presence 
Office, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (d) 
 
1.(SBU) Summary: Iranian women's rights activists are emerging 
as the country's most assertive dissident force, eclipsing most 
other key pro-reform constituencies in Iran. During the Khatami 
presidency from 1997-2005, students and journalists constituted 
the leading edge of reform and political activism.  With some 
exceptions, women adopted quieter tactics during that time to 
promote change in the Iranian legal system's treatment of women. 
 Since early 2006, however, women's rights activists in Iran 
have become increasingly vocal and visible, resisting the new 
administration's efforts to stymie the voice of civil society. 
These women have a clear and specific agenda -- legal reform to 
end laws that they consider discriminatory to women.  Their 
efforts are now at the forefront of the reform movement in Iran, 
and they are bearing the brunt of the Iranian government's 
efforts to contain civil society. End summary. 
 
Recent history of women's rights in Iran 
---------------------------------------- 
 
2.(SBU) The fate of the women's rights movement in Iran is 
currently at the forefront of civil society in Iran in general. 
Under President Khatami, the women's movement scored an 
important victory.  Following months of efforts, the reformist 
sixth Majles approved the UN Convention on the Elimination of 
All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on June 23, 
¶2003.  However, the conservative Guardian Council vetoed 
adoption of CEDAW, saying it violated both Iranian and Islamic 
law. 
 
3.(SBU) Since August 2005, the Ahmadi-Nejad administration, 
which fears that an active civil society will produce a "velvet 
revolution" in Iran, has cracked down strongly on intellectuals, 
scholars, journalists, and non-governmental organizations inside 
the country.  The crackdown gained steam with the April 2006 
arrest of prominent intellectual Ramin Jahanbegloo, following 
his travel to the US and other countries for academic 
conferences and research. 
 
4.(SBU) The government's efforts, however, have not stifled 
activism on the part of women's groups, although these activists 
have also suffered harassment, travel bans, and arrests as a 
result.  Though many activists continued their efforts, 
relatively little was heard about the women's rights movement in 
Iran until early 2006.  On March 8, 2006, security forces 
disrupted a rally to celebrate International Women's Day in 
Tehran.  They used force to disperse demonstrators, bringing 
greater international attention to the women's rights movement 
in Iran.  Women's rights activists later organized a 
demonstration on June 12 in Tehran to call for reform of the 
Iranian legal system.  Again, security forces forcibly disrupted 
the June demonstration and arrested several demonstrators.  The 
women were protesting laws that state, for example, that a 
woman's life and her court testimony are worth half that of a 
man's, and that married women cannot obtain divorces, custody of 
their children after the age of seven, or travel outside the 
country without their husband's permission.  Iranian law also 
states that death by stoning is the appropriate punishment for 
adultery. 
 
5.(SBU) Women's groups are also increasingly using petitions as 
a method to protest and draw international attention to key 
women's rights issues. In late 2006, women's groups in Iran 
began a petition calling for an end to the practice of stoning, 
and other petitions protesting specific cases of stoning 
convictions were also circulated. A petition campaign entitled 
"One Million Signatures Demanding Changes to Discriminatory 
Laws" was also launched in August 2006.  Campaigners intend to 
go door-to-door to obtain the referenced million signatures for 
their petition.  One benefit of this tactic, campaigners say, is 
that it will increase awareness among Iranian women about their 
legal status, even if some women do not sign the petition. 
 
The women's rights movement in 2007 
----------------------------------- 
 
6.(C) Five women's rights activists -- Nooshin Ahmadi Khorasani, 
Parvin Ardalan, Shahla Entesari, Sussan Tahmasebi (who also 
holds US citizenship), and Fariba Davoodi Mohajer -- were later 
put on trial for organizing the June 2006 demonstration. The 
five women are also organizing members of the "One Million 
Signatures" campaign.  They are charged with "acting against 
national security."  (Note: Fariba Davoodi Mohajer was in the US 
at the time of the court date and thus escaped arrest. Endnote) 
Their trial date was set for March 4, 2007, only four days, 
 
RPO DUBAI 00000017  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
before International Women's Day.  Many observers speculated 
that the trial date was chosen deliberately to deter another 
rally.  Women's groups organized a rally in 2007 nonetheless, 
which was mired with similar violence against demonstrators. 
 
7.(U) On the day of the trial, women's groups held a 
demonstration outside of the courthouse, to show solidarity with 
the women on trial.  Police used force to disperse demonstrators 
and arrested several of them.  When the women being tried 
protested the treatment of the demonstrators, they too were 
arrested. Khorasani, Ardalan, Entesari, and Tahmasebi were taken 
to Evin prison, along with 29 arrested demonstrators; a total of 
33 arrested.  Domestic press reports indicate that 30 of the 
women were detained for less than a week, and then released. 
Authorities held three prominent activists -- Shadi Sadr, 
Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, and Jila Baniyaghoub -- until the 
final days of the Iranian year 1385, which ended March 21, 2007. 
 
Travel bans and NGO closures 
---------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) On January 26, 15 women journalists were detained by 
authorities as they attempted to travel to India for an 
educational workshop on journalism.  Three of the women were 
taken to Evin prison and held for 24 hours, and are reported to 
be facing trial in April on charges of "acting against national 
security" by planning to participate in the journalism workshop. 
 The women were reportedly interrogated about their possible 
connections with organizations that have received foreign 
funding. 
 
¶9. (U) In late March, three prominent NGOs -- Iran CSOs Training 
and Research Center (ICTRC), Raahi Legal Center, and 
Non-Governmental Organizations Training Center -- were shut down 
by the government.  The latter two NGOs were founded by Shadi 
Sadr and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh respectively, two of the 
activists arrested March 4. 
 
10.(C) Comment: The government's paranoia of a velvet revolution 
orchestrated by the West is part of its motivation for 
pressuring civil society in Iran, including the women's 
movement.  Another motivation is clashes on religious grounds 
between the conservative government and the more liberal women's 
movement, as evidenced by Ahmadi-Nejad's immediate step to 
reorient the women's affairs office established by Khatami to a 
family issues office. The government's efforts to silence this 
movement are also consistent with an overall strategy of 
increasing "unity and solidarity" among the public (i.e. 
suppressing dissent) in the face of increasing international 
pressure over its nuclear program. 
 
11.(C) Comment cont'd: It is also worth noting that in contrast 
to most other countries in the region, women in Iran are not 
fighting for rights they have never had.  Rather, they are 
fighting in part to regain rights they enjoyed prior to the 1979 
Islamic revolution. It is unclear how significant of a 
constituency the arrested women represent; while anecdotal 
reports suggest that dissatisfaction with the Islamic Republic's 
policies on women's issues is widespread, only a very small 
percentage of Iranian women have actively engaged in efforts to 
confront the government.  However, even if they represent only a 
small elite, the women's activists currently under fire in Iran 
could play a critical role in mobilizing a more assertive reform 
movement in Iran through their linkages with other reform actors 
and the broad societal sympathy toward their aims. 
BURNS