Iran

Surveillance cameras tighten hijab rule

An Iranian criminal court has ordered a woman to perform 270 hours of unpaid labour cleaning public spaces, for breaking the country’s mandatory hijab law. The work will include cleaning the buildings of the Interior Ministry in Tehran. The verdict was based on images from "smart city cameras,”. There has been an increase in surveillance cameras as part of efforts to enforce the mandatory hijab law and crackdown on protests. In April, national police chief Ahmad Reza Radan announced the launch of a “smart” programme involving surveillance cameras to identify women failing to cover their hair...

Motion in support of Iranian political prisoner Sepideh Gholian

Please help the campaign to free Sephideh Gholian by passing this motion in your union branch. This branch notes The extreme repression used by the Iranian regime in the aftermath of the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini by the so-called Morality police in September 2022. At least 537 people have been killed, over 20,000 arrested, and 7 executed during the women-led mass protests against the compulsory hijab law in Iran. Demonstrators have demanded “Women, Life, Freedom.” Women are heavily discriminated against in employment, custody rights, education and inheritance. The legal age for marriage, for...

Iran's bans make illegal abortions soar

Iran’s dictatorship tightened restrictions on medical abortions and banned the free distribution of contraceptives in 2021 amid a moral panic around the birth-rate. Iranian women have been choosing fewer children in part due to economic crisis. This has led to public health alarm about numbers of illegal abortions. Government officials have said that each year between 300,000 to 600,000 abortions are performed in the country, and over 90% are illegal. Access to contraception and legal abortion is driving a dangerous black market. Until recently abortions could be legally performed during the...

Iran strikers: “We are not slaves”

A strike wave is building in Iran. It began in the oil industry, and now includes workers in mines, power plants, and in chemical and steel companies is building in Iran. Workers are demanding large pay increases. Over 100,000 workers are reportedly involved, so far. The strike movement began on Saturday 22 April. Workers in more than 100 enterprises have joined the industrial action. Most of these workers are working on temporary contracts for sub-contractors. Permanent staff in the oil companies are a relatively privileged group and are wary of risking their jobs by striking. The Council for...

Solidarity, not saviour complex

Some leftists are equating the Ukrainian resistance to Nazism by emphasising the minority of right-wing nationalist elements in the Ukrainian resistance, acting as useful idiots for Putin and his Russia's colonial war.

Iran: schoolgirls under attack

According to the US news station, NBC, 2,000 Iranian schoolgirls have reported symptoms of poisoning. One member of Iran’s parliament suggests that the numbers may be far higher, and that 5,000 girls have been poisoned. 800 girls from 58 schools across ten provinces have been hospitalised. Alireza Monadi, head of parliament’s education committee, has admitted that schools have been deliberately attacked and that 30 toxicologists in the Health Ministry believe the toxins are nitrogen gas. Girls have reported strange smells (chlorine or cleaning agents, or tangerines) in their classrooms and...

Sepideh Gholian released then re-arrested

Sepideh Gholian chanting against Iranian dictator Khamenei as she was released from prison Sepideh Gholian, a radical, 28 year-old workers’ rights activist and citizen journalist, is one of the most prominent women oppositionists imprisoned in Iran. Sepideh was released from the notorious Evin prison, Tehran, on 15 March, after being jailed for over four years for supporting the Workers’ Union of Haft Tappeh (sugar cane workers) strike in 2018. After her release, she immediately staged a one person demonstration, which was filmed by supporters (watch eg here .) Hair uncovered, carrying a bunch...

Iran’s regime shifts tactics: Schoolgirls under attack

Video of girls dancing in Ekbatan, Iran, released on IWD 2023 According to the US news station, NBC, 2000 Iranian schoolgirls have reported symptoms of poisoning. One member of Iran’s parliament suggests that the numbers may be far higher, and that 5000 girls have been poisoned. 800 girls from 58 schools across ten provinces have been hospitalised. Alireza Monadi, head of parliament’s education committee, has admitted that schools have been deliberately attacked and that 30 toxicologists in the Health Ministry believe the toxins are nitrogen gas. Although no deaths have been recorded the...

5 days in 1979

“ There was no question in our minds that this was the first step to suppress us and we should stand up to it as both women and as revolutionaries.” Said Haideh Daragahi, a lecturer at Tehran University in 1979. During the Iranian Revolution of 1978-9, women stood shoulder-to-shoulder with men, and toe-to-toe against the Shah’s regime in mass demonstrations and on the barricades. The revolution stood for democracy, liberty and equality against a dictatorship that had been installed in a military coup in 1953. It was a moment of hope for progressives, the organised left, the workers’ movement...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.