Three honor killings in less than a month have upset many Iranians, who have taken to social media to express their outrage over the treatment of women under Iran’s Islamic laws. Many Iranians are “blaming the Islamic government for policies of light punishment for the guilty perpetrators.” In response, the regime has gone into full “damage control” as it “tries to protect the sharia with its policies of light punishment for the guilty perpetrators.”
State authorities have now upped the ante, pressuring mental health workers to stop discussing “controversial” issues regarding the abuse of women publicly and to remain quiet about issues such as honor killing, violence against women, and child marriage.
Under the sharia, women are inferior, wife-beating is prescribed for women “from whom you fear disobedience” (Qur’an 4:34), and child marriage is permitted. The state-sanctioned abuse of women leaves them defenseless, as Iran authorities consider the sharia to be divine and immutable. Of course, even in Western countries today, criticizing the abuses sanctioned by the sharia is deemed to be “Islamophobic,” as the West increasingly weakens.
“Iran Pressures Psychologists To Avoid Public Discussion Of Violence Against Women,” by Fahinej Khezer-Haydari and Maryam Sinaiee, Radio Farda, July 23, 2020:
State institutions in Iran are pressuring mental health workers to avoid controversial issues such as honor killings and violence against women, wife and child marriages on social media to avoid controversies about sharia laws.
A psychologist who could not be named for her own safety told Radio Farda that recently a prominent colleague with great following on social media lost his license to practice because he had extensively discussed these issues on his social media accounts.
According to her, other mental health workers have received warnings for collaborating with feminist activists on live Instagram posts in which issues such as equality of men and women and cultural concepts such as male honor and control over female family members and relatives were discussed.
She says she was stopped from speaking at a meeting with welfare organization officers about the killing of Romina, a fourteen-year-old girl by her father in June which shook Iran. “I was told to stop talking when I said future parents must be required to attend courses on raising children and workshops about giving sex education to children,”.
“This means that women and girls are allowed to be killed and all are required to keep silent about these brutalities,” she says.
The recent honor killings — three in less than a month — outraged Iranians and became a hot topic on social media with many blaming the Islamic government for policies of light punishment for the guilty perpetrators…..