Women's News Iran: Plundered women and children beaten up Plundered men and women gathered for the second day outside the Ministry of Agricultural Crusade (Jihad) in Tehran on Wednesday, November 8, 2017. They have been looted by  Vali Asr Financial Institute  and protested the government’s support for the crooked institute. The State Security forces violently attacked the protesters using tear gas and beat them up, even women and children. On the same day in Ahwaz, southwest Iran, people protested against the government-backed  Arman institute , by gathering in front of the  governor’s office . They marched to the Department of Justice and continued to protest against fraud by the state authorities. They also protested against a judicial authority who had said, “the looted are not innocent.”

Women's News Iran: Two young women, deprived of education, face jail  sentences Three young Baha’is, including two women, were sentenced each to five years of prison for following up on their cases of being deprived of higher education. Rouhieh Safajoo , Tara Houshmand, 21 and Sarmad Shadabi, 22, were denied higher education after passing the admission tests. They were arrested in March 2016 for legally following up their cases and publishing their issue in the social media. The three were released on bail a month later in April 2016. After repeated summoning and trials they were tried on September 26, 2017, and a few days ago in November 2017, were informed that they had been given 5-year sentences each for “acting against national security by adhering to the Baha’I faith.”

Women's News Iran: State media confess to rape of girl child laborers “We are going to prove that 90 per cent of child laborers get raped.” This was said by the executive director of the Organization of Social Services in Tehran’s Municipality following a research done on 400 child laborers. The state-run  Salamatnews.com  published a report run by the official Iran newspaper which included some painful examples of sexual assault on deprived girl children and child laborers. The same story was also reported by the state-run  Rokna.ir  website. The report narrates the stories of girl children who are assaulted and raped since very young age due to poverty and addiction of their parents. The report also cites Elham Fakhari, member of Tehran’s City Council, as saying that “sexual abuse is the greatest ailment among young scavenger children.” One of the characters in this report is Rana, 19, who has been engaged in dangerous and harmful jobs such as ...

Women's News Iran: Woman commits suicide with her toddler A mother hugged her toddler and jumped off a building in Shahr-e Kord, capital of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province in south central Iran. ‌Both died instantly. The incident happened on Thursday, November 2, 2017, after the 43-year-old woman walked up a half-built building on Bahonar Street of Shahr-e Kord and threw herself and her 14-month-old child off the building. She committed suicide reportedly in protest to poverty and hunger.

Women's News Iran: Women win medals, despite lack of government support Iran’s hard working women show their talent and competence in every opportunity despite numerous obstacles created by the ruling regime to exclude them from the  sport s arena and lack of any form of government support. Rock climber Elnaz Rekabi won the gold medal of women’s Asian Bold Ring Cup where she defeated Singapore, Kazakhstan, and China. (The state-run  ISCAnews.ir  – October 29, 2017) In a previous interview, she had complained about the difficulties of training while being alone in her field. Elnaz Rekabi also spoke on the problems created by the requirement of wearing the compulsory veil. “It is very hard with the veil especially when the weather is hot. I tried to find some proper outfit for this sport to observe the dress code, as well, but I had to do it on my own.” (Interview with Euronews –  Aparat.com – April 25, 2016) In another event, Iranian women rank...

Women's News Iran: Women actively participate in Teachers’ Day protest gatherings Women teachers  actively and extensively participated in nationwide gatherings in Iran called for Thursday, October 5, 2017, on the World Teacher’s Day. Iranian teachers demanded not only their own legitimate rights but also the release of imprisoned teachers and political prisoners. The protest gatherings were held in Tehran, Yazd, Ahwaz, Shiraz, Mashhad, Tabriz and Gilan. The state-run ILNA news agency reported an estimated 500 teachers participated in Tehran’s gathering. Teachers from Tehran and Alborz provinces gathered outside the Planning and Budget Organization while similar gatherings in other provinces were held across from the education departments in every city. Teachers changed, “Free imprisoned teachers, workers, and students”, “a teacher’s place is not in prison”, “we want a salary of at least 4 million toumans, over the poverty line”, and “we will persevere until our...

Women's News Iran: 2400 agents to crack down on women in Semnan, alone The Secretary of Semnan Province’s Staff in charge of Promoting Virtue and Forbidding Vice announced that 2400 agents are tasked in this province, alone, with cracking down on women to impose the compulsory veil. He added that they had increased the number of their female agents to 2000 who act on different levels. They also include teenage girls of 14-15 years of age. “Promoting virtue and forbidding vice should spread in society and turn into a general culture institutionalized among people,”  Heydar Asiabi  stressed. (The state-run Tasnim news agencies – October 5, 2017) The culture this official is hoping to spread in society, is encouraging everyone to intervene in women’s most personal issues, suppressing and bullying them under the pretext of Islam as their agents do.  Twenty-six state agencies  are already tasked with enforcing the compulsory veil on women in every private a...

Women's News Iran: Security forces attack mourning ceremony, violently beat women Security forces attacked a Shiite Ashura ceremony in Shahr-e Ray on Sunday, October 1, 2017. They harassed and arrested the participants particularly the women. Former political prisoner Ayatollah Kazemini Boroujerdi, released from prison after 11 years, was attending this ceremony. Ms. Zeinab Abolfathi, an eyewitness, said, “40 minutes after the ceremony had started, I noticed that people were rushing to leave and get dispersed. There were around 300 participants.” According to Ms. Abolfathi, the assailants terrorized the participants, used foul mouth and obstructed the door to prevent them from leaving.   They also beat people and told them, “We will kill all of you on the spot.” They quickly collected all the mobile phones to prevent people from taking film. The security forces spent long hours to interrogate the participants and frisked women. They even prevented women from ...