Being a woman in Iran means enduring barbaric inhuman behavior in every facet of life.
By Marziyeh Amirizadeh
While we celebrated the International Women day on March 8th, we must remember the many brave Iranian women who have endured decades of hardships under the harsh rules of Islam, imposed on them by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Today we are seeing the fruits of their struggles and suffering, praying that by the time you read this the Islamic Republic will have fallen – but the job is not done, and their suffering has not ended.
Under Islamic rules, Iranian women have been subjugated and suppressed for more than 47 years since the satanic Ayatollah Khomeini took power in Iran. Iranian women lost all their rights after the revolution in 1979. The regime started suppressing women systematically and publicly through many misogynist laws making women and women’s rights only half of that of men. The humiliation of women under the Islamic Republic runs deep in the regime’s DNA:
– Women are forced to wear a hijab from the age of seven.
– Iranian women cannot sing or dance in public, or have custody of their children after getting divorced.
– Women cannot travel or obtain a passport without the permission of their fathers or their husbands.
– Women cannot get government jobs or hold other important positions.
Under rulings of the Islamic regime, women are treated like property of men. Their testimony in court is equal half of that of men because under Islam, a woman’s brain is considered half of that of men. Women’s inheritance is half of men. However, under these same Islamic rules, girls as young as nine are mature enough to be married to old men because their prophet Mohammed married his wife, Aishia, at the age of seven.
Many Iranian girls and women have been murdered by their fathers, brothers, or husbands in what they call “honor killings” for which the men face no severe consequences because under Islamic rules there is no capital punishment against a male who kills their female relative for the purpose of their honor. One of my personal examples is most telling. After I talked to my brother about my conversion to Christianity, he talked to a mullah about his confusion between Islam and Christianity and mentioned my conversion to Christianity. The mullah told my brother to kill me, and he promised him there will be no punishment for him under the law of “honor killing.” There are countless other examples.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranian women have been arrested in the streets, beaten up in public by “morality police”, and humiliated only because of not having a proper Islamic hijab. One prominent example is Mahsa Amini who was murdered in 2022 for allowing her hair to show. She was beaten mercilessly after her arrest, went into a coma, and died at the hands of her torturers.
Fighting Back. An Iranian woman protests the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by the morality police in Tehran in September 2022 for improperly wearing a hijab. Her death ignited protests that exposed the regime’s use of sexual violence as a weapon of repression. (Photo: obtained by AP)
The Islamic regime also deliberately disfigures the face of many Iranian women by throwing acid at them, or shooting them, for disobeying the Islamic rules and not following the “proper” Islamic dress code. We have seen that abundantly during the recent protests across Iran.
Many Iranian women were raped in prison and were subject of sexual abuse by prison authorities. I personally witnessed this kind of abuse during my imprisonment at Evin prison in 2009 where I was sentenced to death by hanging just for being a Christian. One of my cellmates who got a job at the prison clinic, found the real job was to go there every day and to give sexual pleasure to prison authorities and government officials. They threatened her if she refused, they would kill her. I went through many psychological pressures and hardships to deny my faith in Jesus. I witnessed the execution of my best friend, Shirin Alamhooli, and many of my cellmates. I heard many stories of rape and sexual abuse from my cellmates who did not have any voices. I witnessed the torture and humiliation of women regularly.
One of the most obscene ways in which women are subjugated, there is a perversion under the Islamic rules it is not legitimate to execute a virgin. So according to a fatwa (religious command) by Ayatollah Khomeini, virgins must be raped before their execution. Under the Islamic rules, raping virgins before their execution prevents them from entering heaven. This law is just an excuse and a reward to prison authorities for having sexual pleasure with innocent women before executing them. Under Islamic rules women have zero value.
When I think about International Women’s Day, it reminds me of the suffering of millions of Iranian women like me. It makes me sad because it reminds me how much I was disrespected and humiliated in my birth country. It reminds me how much Iranian women are insulted, disrespected, and have suffered. It reminds me many horrible memories of being insulted and punished in school, and even at home by my brothers who were brainwashed by the Islamic regime to see me and all women as inferior. It reminds me of the gross harassment by men who would look at me as a whore and the challenges I faced because I lived independently without being under a control of a man. It reminds me that I lived 30 years in Iran, but I never had a chance to travel around my beautiful country because hotels would not permit women to book a room alone.
It reminds me of the terrible stories of my students who must accept the sick sexual advances and extortion by judges to be able to receive a divorce from their abusive husbands. I experienced that too. Under Islam, if women are abused or beaten by their husbands, there are no laws to defend them. There is a verse in the Koran (Al Nisa surah) that actually gives permission for men to beat their wives.
Despite all these misogynist Islamic laws, millions of Iranian women bravely fought against these harsh rules and did not submit. Many of them never gave up and tried to stand for their rights at any cost, even losing their lives.
This year alone, the Islamic regime killed over 32,000 protesters in just two days in January. The regime intentionally targeted young women and men who were beautiful and athletic to punish the families. They believe if you target the children, you have killed the parents as well – ensuring they will not stand up against the regime in the future.
We should not forget that the brave mothers of all these young children who were killed by the regime who have turned their mourning to another form of defiance against the regime. Instead of crying, many mothers displayed their defiance by dancing in the funeral of their children. It is unbelievable where they found the courage to turn their sorrow and mourning to dance, to tell the Islamic regime that even the death of their children cannot stop them fighting for their rights and freedom.
Under Islamic rules, women are not allowed to sing and dance in public, but brave Iranian women are singing and dancing for their loved ones who were massacred in the nationwide uprising in January 2026. There are no more Islamic rituals or citation of Koran verses. This is another form of revolution against 47 years of indoctrination with Islamic laws
While dancing and singing in public is forbidden for Iranian women, the mothers and sisters of those who were murdered by the regime held back their tears and began to dance and sing loudly in public to show defiance. They stand as a symbol of courage for all women around the world.
Being a woman in Iran means enduring barbaric inhuman behavior in every facet of life. It means having remarkable strength, being made of steel, to survive all those brutalities one faces daily.
It is a shame that instead of making the Islamic regime accountable for what they do to Iranian women, the United Nations rewards them by giving them a seat to monitor women’s rights around the world. This is an obscene joke, and another type of insult against Iranian women by the clowns and buffoons at the UN to close their eyes to the misogyny and brutalities against Iranian women.
Defiance. Despite the threat of arrest and execution, an Iranian woman without a mandatory Islamic headscarf flashes a victory sign as two veiled women walk by at a market in Tehran in June 2024. (Photo: AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
On International Women’s Day, we must remember brave Iranian women who have no rights and have been targets of discrimination and abuse for so many years. We must remember the high price that they are paying every day just to survive. We must remember many Iranian women who have no voice and their lives have been ruined by the Islamic regime. We must remember hundreds of thousands of mothers who are mourning for their children in hiding, while dancing in public to undermine and humiliate all the Islamic laws against them and say “No” to five decades of indoctrination.
My heart pains me this International Women’s Day when I think about all the atrocities Iranian women have suffered and are suffering still. My heart pains me when I remember, like millions of Iranian women, how much I was insulted, disrespected, and ignored just because of being born as a woman in Iran under the Islamic Republic government. I cannot hold back my tears for Iranian women who are still living under this tyranny and suppressions and are paying the price with their lives.
I salute Iranian women on this day for being the true symbol of courageous resistance and dignity under the most barbaric Islamic rules imposed on them every day. I pray that they will have their relief, their rights, and freedom soon. It cannot come soon enough.
This International Woman’s Day we must not forget. We must be the voices of and bear witness for Iranian women. We must pray that by this time next year, Iran, and Iranian women, will be free.
About the writer:
Marziyeh Amirizadeh is an Iranian American who immigrated to the US after being sentenced to death in Iran for the crime of converting to Christianity. She endured months of mental and physical hardships and intense interrogation. She is author of two books (the latest, A Love Journey with God), public speaker, and columnist. She has shared her inspiring story throughout the United States and around the world, to bring awareness about the ongoing human rights violations and persecution of women and religious minorities in Iran, www.MarzisJourney.com.
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