By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
TEHRAN, IRAN (ANS) -- A new Bill, which has been making its way through the Iranian Parliament for mre than a year, seeks to give Iranian men the right to take a second wife without the permission of the first, and it would enshrine a man’s right to have an unlimited number of temporary marriages, which can last from 10 minutes to 99 years.
The Iranian government calls it the Family Protection Bill, but activists call it the “Anti-Family Protection Bill,” according to an online article by Amy Kellogg writing for www.FoxNews.com
The multiple marriage arrangements come from Shariah law and have always existed in Iran, but the Family Protection Bill would make them official.
FoxNews.com says that two groups -- the International Coalition Against Violence in Iran, and the Association of Iranian Researchers -- arranged a press conference in London last week to raise awareness of the issue.
Amid the upheaval in Iran right now -- the hardship associated with sanctions, and the political strife -- they question why such a law, which has been winding its way through Iran’s government for several years, even needs to be on the table, FoxNews.com says.
The online article says women opposed to the articles in the bill that pertain to polygamy went on a brave and creative odyssey more than a year ago to confront it, traveling around Iran to talk to women whose lives have been adversely affected by their husbands taking second wives.
According to the article, the women wrote their stories on pieces of cloth; if they were illiterate, they had someone else write them down. Then they sewed the pieces together into a quilt.
The quilt is still in Iran, but a digital image was smuggled out, says FoxNews.com.
“Most of the stories are from around Iran, not from Tehran. They are sad stories,” said Rouhi Shafii of the International Coalition Against Violence in Iran.
One of the stories on the quilt says: “A few years after my marriage, my husband started telling me, jokingly, that I looked like an old woman. I was five years younger than he. He began beating me and broke my hands several times.
“When he talked of taking up another wife, I took it as a joke. He wouldn’t do that, I thought. We have two children. But one day he married a young girl and wanted to get a two story building to bring his bride to live with us. I made him swear on the Koran not to do that, and he took his child bride elsewhere. He forgot about us and spent all his earning enjoying his bride. I was providing for the children by working at people’s homes or hairdressing salons. My younger son says: ‘when I grow up, I will kill my dad.’”
FoxNews.com says that a group of women activists also gathered 15,000 signatures from women opposed to the law -- signatures complete with their addresses.
The activists brought the signatures and the quilt to Parliament last year, to try to stop the legalization of the polygamy articles as part of the new law. The Iranian Parliament accepted the signatures, but would not take the quilt.
“It was a very brave act they did last year, in the middle of demonstrations and detentions,” Shafii told Fox News.
FoxNews.com says that many of the women involved in creating the quilt are out of Iran right now, but they were afraid to appear at the London press conference, fearing the regime would make life hard for their families back home.
FoxNews.com stated: “To many Iranian women, temporary marriage is tantamount to legalized prostitution. But the women’s opposition to the bill is not unanimous. Many female Members of Parliament are as conservative as the men, and they support the legislation.”
The FoxNews.com story says that at this point, the two articles of the bill that deal with polygamy are on hold, but they have not been canceled out of the bill.
FoxNews.com says Shafii believes activism has kept those bills from being passed so far.
| ** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter |  |
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