RELIGION BULLETIN-IRAN: U.N. Doubts Over Changes in Iran’s Rights Policies

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 1998 (IPS) - Pledges by Iranian President Mohammed Khatami to improve human rights and the withdrawal of threats against the life of British author Salman Rushdie have yielded few real changes in Iran, according to the United Nations.

Maurice Copithorne, the U.N. human rights rapporteur for Iran, argues that although freedom of expression has improved since Khatami’s election victory last year, women’s rights, minority rights and even the Rushdie affair largely have been unaffected.

He noted that the deal between Iran and Britain in September – which formally distanced Teheran from any attempt on Rushdie’s life “met with a fairly violent negative reaction” within Iran. Also it has failed to discourage Iranian groups from continuing to threaten the author.

“The Iranian government itself says that nothing has changed” in its policy on Rushdie, Copithorne added. More significantly, the 15th of Khordad Foundation – a non-governmental group which the envoy said includes members who have influence in the government – raised its bounty on Rushdie’s life from 2.5 million to 2.8 million dollars last month.

“There is quite a bit of evidence that the 15th of Khordad Foundation, makes no distinction between non-governmental and governmental policy, Copithorne argued. He told IPS he intends to take up the concern when he next meets Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.

Nevertheless, the Rushdie affair’s latest twist satisfied the novelist, whose 1988 book ‘The Satanic Verses’ outraged many Muslims and prompted a death threat from the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeimi, then Iran’s religious leader, the following year.

While visiting the United Nations in September, Khatami said, “We should consider the Salman Rushdie affair as completely finished.” His government also spelled out that they would not honour any bounties on the Indian-born novelist’s life or make any attempt to kill him.

Rushdie claimed that he was finally freed from a nine-year-old ‘fatwa’ (or edict) that had endangered his life. The British government, for its part, declared that it will restore ambassadorial links with Iran.

Yet Khatami’s liberal views and attempts to moderate the rule of Iran’s right-wing clerics has fallen short in other respects as well, Copithorne contended. Since he gave the new government a mixed review in a report delivered to the U.N. General Assembly last month, the envoy said that the rights of some groups – particularly the Baha’i religious minority – have deteriorated.

The record for women’s rights, which were poor even before the 1979 revolution which replaced Shah Mohammed Reza Pehlevi with Khomeini, continues to be bad, he said.

“You can’t stereotype Iran to say that it is the most retrogressive (Muslim state) on women’s affairs. Women are in Parliament, women have the right to vote, women drive cars and women have a very substantial portion of the seats in higher education,” he acknowledged. “On the other hand, they face a whole variety of other types of disabilities.”

In particular, he noted that married women require their husbands’ consent to acquire passports; that they do not have equality with men in divorce; and that they still face ‘hijab’ (or head covering) laws which are strictly enforced.

Human Rights Watch has noted that last year, for example, the judicial centre which issues guidelines on the Islamic dress code ruled that women who wore a “thin or short scarf” or otherwise used coverings which do not hide the hair or the back of the neck could face fines, three months in prison or 74 lashes.

Still, Copithorne added, there have been advances in opening up cultre, the media and free expression in general. “There are substantially more publications now free to publish,” and a wide range of discussion on most issues, he said. Yet he added that for the media, “the parameters are not yet clear – it is still too easy to run into (allegations of) ‘violations of state security’.”

Perhaps the greatest improvements have occurred in the cinema, Copithorne said. “It is much easier now to get approval from a censor to allow a movie to be shown,” he said. Approvals these days take less than a month whereas, previously films would languish for years awaiting approval.