The National Assembly adopted on Monday, November 28, a resolution in support of the movement for the freedom of the Iranian people. This strong message sent to her compatriots fighting for liberty is a source of satisfaction for Nazila Golestan. The spokesperson for Iran HamAva hopes that the international community will continue to mobilize against the violence of the Islamic Republic and the gender apartheid of its theocratic regime.
Young Iranian women are defying the theocratic regime by removing their Islamic veils. Here, in November, at the foot of the Azadi (Freedom) Tower in Tehran. (DR)
The 149 deputies present in the chamber on Monday, November 28, in the late afternoon, voted unanimously in favor of the text presented by the Renaissance party members, firmly condemning “the restriction of freedoms and women’s rights and the brutal and widespread repression.” The Renaissance group had called on its members and allies (Renaissance and affiliated groups, Democratic and affiliated groups, and Horizons and affiliated groups) to support the resolution.
“There can be no freedom without women’s freedom,” declared deputy Hadrien Ghomi (Renaissance), himself of Iranian descent. He called on the National Assembly to “send a strong message” to the Iranian people through the adoption of this text presented by the majority during its parliamentary initiative week.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, recalled in her speech the slogan chanted during the demonstrations in Iran: “Woman, Life, Freedom.” She reminded the assembly of the “thousands of Iranian women and men arrested and imprisoned for wanting to live freely” and the horrific toll of “more than 400 lives taken” due to the brutality of the regime’s police forces in Iran since the start of the peaceful protest movement in mid-September. “It is repression that strikes—relentless and disproportionate,” the minister declared, once again demanding the release of the seven French citizens detained in Iran.
A situation that “demands action, with responsibility,” she insisted, announcing that “new sanctions are being prepared” for the next meeting of the European Union’s foreign ministers scheduled for December 12.
Tsunami of Protests Against Gender Apartheid
The Islamic Republic is facing a tsunami of protests following the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, three days after she was arrested and beaten by the morality police in Tehran on September 16. Mahsa’s name has since become a symbol for protesters across the country.
The discrimination and oppression suffered by women over the past four decades constitute the greatest gender-based discrimination against women in the world.
For more than four decades, the world has witnessed the brutality of the Islamic regime in Iran, in total contradiction with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This political system has never respected international agreements and has, “in the name of democracy,” organized fraudulent elections. It has threatened the region through its nuclear activities and has engaged in a psychological war with the West by rejecting all universal values. It has shown contempt for human dignity and violently repressed the Iranian people — all with the aim of maintaining an ideological system and holding on to power.
The discrimination and oppression endured by women during these forty years represent the most severe sexual discrimination against women worldwide. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic is based on Islamic law and patriarchy, drawing from sources such as the Qur’an, Sharia, and Hadith. It assumes that women are the “weaker sex” and the property of men — a premise that legitimizes the government’s misogyny.
The absence of individual, social, cultural, and political freedoms in the country exerts immense pressure on the population, creating tensions both within the region and with the international community. This explains why all social classes have united behind the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement to stand up to the theocracy.
After 65 days, despite the bloody repression by the Basij militias and threats from the Revolutionary Guards, despite the arrest of over 16,000 people, the brutal beatings and killings across the country, and the horrific death toll of 60 children during protests, the anger remains unshaken — expressed through the chants “Woman, Life, Freedom” and “Death to the Dictator.” Protesters remain determined to carry on their counter-revolution, grounded in universal values, risking their lives every day against the legacy of the dark, Islamist revolution of 1979.
A Revolution of All Women
In the face of the scale of these peaceful demonstrations brutally repressed by the Iranian regime, the resolution adopted on November 28 by the French National Assembly condemns in the strongest terms the “discrimination against women” and the “brutal and widespread repression by security forces” against non-violent protesters by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The November 28 text, though non-binding, describes this movement as “a revolution of all Iranian women,” victims of a theocratic regime that tramples their rights and freedoms, even to the point of imposing a strict dress code upon them. It expresses its support for the Iranian people in their aspiration to democracy and the respect of their fundamental rights and freedoms.
The Islamic Republic must be subjected to diplomatic sanctions and expelled from all United Nations commissions.
The resolution adopted that day “invites the French government” to take diplomatic action to exclude Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. It also calls on the government and the European Union to renew their demand for an independent and transparent investigation into the suspicious death of Mahsa Jina Amini. The text further calls for “a return to dialogue and diplomacy.”
The Iran HamAva Association seizes this opportunity to express its deep respect and appreciation to all the members of parliament who, through this strong act, have unequivocally condemned the “discriminatory nature, the brutal and widespread repression against non-violent protesters” perpetrated by the security forces of the Islamic Republic.
… to be continued
As we know, the international community condemned racial discrimination in South Africa, recognizing it as an unjustifiable crime. This global reaction helped isolate the South African government, which, unable to withstand this international isolation, was forced to end its system of racial discrimination in 1991.
The theocratic regime in Iran upholds a gender apartheid, which has systematically tortured, raped, executed, and killed Iranian citizens who oppose its rule.
The Islamic Republic must be subjected to diplomatic sanctions and expelled from all United Nations commissions. This regime and its brutal instruments of terror and repression do not represent the Iranian people.
It is essential that France — the country where the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was written and proclaimed — continues to affirm its commitment to change in the Islamic Republic of Iran and its support for a policy of sanctions against its government.
(*) HamAva (in English: “Same Voice”) is a national coalition for a democratic and secular Iran, bringing together political and civil society actors, political prisoners, and lawyers within the country. It is solemnly committed to achieving a non-violent transition from the theocratic and kleptocratic government established in Iran since 1979 to a democratic and secular political system based on the Charter of Human Rights — by the people, for the people, and with the people.
Source: https://www.leddv.fr/opinion/tribune/liberte-pour-le-peuple-iranien-20221129