Injustice unveiled

Ghavami has been sentenced for a year for violating the archaic moral code set in place by the orthodox Iranian clergy

It is hard to believe that, in this day and age, a woman could be jailed for watching a volleyball game. Yet, this is what happened to Ghoncheh Ghavami, a 25-year-old British-Iranian law graduate from London, who was arrested in June last year in Tehran. Ms Ghavami was watching a men’s volleyball match at the time, with Iran playing Italy in the inappropriately named Azadi Stadium. The charges against her are unclear, though it is understood the vague, but frequently used accusation of ‘spreading propaganda against the regime’, have been used to detain her. Authorities maintain her arrest was linked to ‘security reasons’ and not the volleyball game. However, this is questionable, given that regulations in Iran prevent women from watching football games, ostensibly to protect them from ‘lewd’ behaviour from men.

Ms Ghavami, who has already spent 126 days in the notorious Evin Jail, has now been sentenced to a year’s prison term. Last month, she had staged a 14-day long hunger strike against her detention while a social media campaign has been launched by family and friends. Given her dual British nationality, the campaign is an international one, while the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has also taken up the matter. He has sought Ms Ghavami’s release, while diplomats have been questioning Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, elected last year as a moderate, about the number of detentions and executions made under his government. In his defence, he has said that the judiciary is independent and outside executive control. These though are technicalities. The reality is that a young woman has spent days behind bars, and is at risk of spending days more, for violating the archaic moral code set in place by the orthodox Iranian clergy. These rules defy humanity and rights of women. It is time for Iran to step into modern times. A woman, as in the past, is the victim here, as is so often the case. This must change — and President Rouhani’s government has a moral need to engineer this change by standing for what is right.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2014.

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