From the Frontlines in Iran: Our Fight for Human Rights and Gender Equality

(the absolute courage of this woman, and so many others, is almost beyond belief. And, as her last lines indicate, the monster of oppression is on the move. We see it here.)


From the Frontlines in Iran: Our Fight for Human Rights and Gender Equality
10/6/2023 by Nasrin Sotoudeh
“I will try everything I can to give the women of Iran the society they deserve,” wrote human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh in her new book, Women, Life, Freedom: Our Fight for Human Rights and Equality in Iran.



Human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh photographed in the garden of her office on Dec. 9, 2014, in Tehran, Iran. (Kaveh Kazemi / Getty Images)

Nasrin Sotoudeh is an Iranian human rights lawyer who has spent her career fighting for the rights of women and minorities in the Middle East. Arrested in June 2018 because of her work representing opposition activists, religious minorities and women who publicly protested Iran’s mandatory hijab law, Sotoudeh was sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes, on charges that included “inciting corruption and prostitution,” “disrupting public order,” “propaganda against the state” and “collusion against national security.” She had previously been imprisoned from 2010 to 2013 on similar charges—a heavy price to pay for loving one’s country. For her important work, Sotoudeh—a long-time friend of Ms. magazine—has been honored with copious awards and designations, including the U.S. State Department’s Global Human Rights Defender title and Ms. magazine’s Top Feminist award. Just this month, she is the sole recipient of both The Civil Courage Prize, which honors individuals who show courage against evil and oppression, and the Brown Democracy Medal from the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, marking the award’s 10th year.



People gather outside the Iranian embassy in France on June 13, 2019, to support Nasrin Sotoudeh and demand her release. (Francois Guillot / AFP via Getty Images)



The excerpt below is reprinted from Sotoudeh’s forthcoming book, Women, Life, Freedom: Our Fight for Human Rights and Equality in Iran, by Nasrin Sotoudeh (translated by Parisa Saranj, foreword by Jeff Kaufman). A free download of the book is available here.

When I was 21 years old, I took an undergraduate law class in Islamic jurisprudence. The professor was a cleric who also taught at the university before the revolution and occasionally expressed opposition to the Islamic government. I asked him, “Why does the law consider blood money (diyah) for a woman to be half of that for a man?” This was one of the provisions in Iran’s post-revolution constitution. It meant that if a man unintentionally killed a man, he would have to pay blood money to the victim’s family—but if he unintentionally killed a woman, only half of that amount would be awarded to hers. This was obviously demeaning to women. A cleric would have the answer, I thought. He responded with a kind of evasion, saying, “I don’t know why. Ask those who have enacted these laws.”

This was 40 years ago. While my young mind was not yet fluent with concepts like activism, civil discourse, and human rights, I was unsatisfied with my professor’s answer. Having witnessed changes in attitudes towards women since adolescence, I felt a tangled anger that I couldn’t clearly express.





Sotoudeh as a young student. (Courtesy of Nasrin Sotoudeh)

. . . .

Forty-four years ago, the Iranian people hoped for freedom in the revolution that swept away the Shah. They were lied to and betrayed. The government of Ayatollah Khomeini stripped away their civil and political rights. They did this with a self-righteousness that comes when a few governing men are convinced they are God’s representatives on earth, and their version of religion gradually slithered its way into citizens’ personal lives. Women bore the brunt of the social and political repression. Almost all of their civil rights were taken away from them. The right to divorce, custody of their children, freedom to choose hijab, equal inheritance, and protection from polygamy—which had slightly improved under the previous regime—were completely abolished. This was despite the Islamic Republic government’s promise of a new country where men and women were equal.
. . . .






Sotoudeh is inspired by her Aunt Anis, who publicly went without a hijab five decades ago. (Courtesy of Nasrin Sotoudeh)

. . . .


People far away may turn their backs on these realities, hoping they are immune. However, if the monster of oppression has nested in one corner of the world, it doesn’t mean it won’t get up and move. No, it has already begun to prowl. The monster is hungry, and it dreams of taking over the world. We must overcome our fears, stand up to the beast, and look it in the eyes. I want our children to see and be inspired by great women like my aunt. I don’t want her to live only as a memory, as a dream. That’s why I will try everything I can to give the women of Iran the society they deserve.

Women, Life, Freedom: Our Fight for Human Rights and Equality in Iran by Nasrin Sotoudeh is published by Cornell University Press. Copyright © 2023 by Cornell University. Used by permission of the publisher.

https://msmagazine.com/2023/10/06/iran-women-nasrin-sotoudeh/