Iran's Penal Code Sanctions Rape

There has already been a couple of posts on the gender discrimination demonstrated by the Islamic Government of Iran. However, permit me to bring to your attention some brutal examples.

As dictated by Article 74 of Iran's Penal Code, a woman's testimony in court is worth half that of a man's. Should a woman wish to sue a man for rape, she will need a female and three male eye-witnesses to corroborate her testimony, by virtue of Article 76; failure to do so will result in the victim woman being charged with false accusation and will bear the punishment of 80 lashes, by virtue of Article 140 of the Penal Code.

The requirement to produce witnesses to the abominable act of rape is unreasonable, due to the fact that such nearly always occurs in private - no criminal would want to be seen in the commission of their heinous act. Consequently, the female victim is left without the protection of the law - she is raped, then must remain silent about it if she wishes to avoid a State-sanctioned brutal chastisement. This conveys the message that the Islamic law in Iran favours men and rapists over gender equality and justice.

According to the finding of Special Rapporteur Coomaraswamy (U.N. DocE/CN.4/2002/83) the inequalities in law and justice in the Islamic Republic of Iran convey startling results. Should a man find out his wife has been unfaithful, he is permitted to execute her; however, the very same legal system will execute a woman who murders her husband if she found him cheating on her.

A disturbing finding of the U.N. Report of the Economic and Social Council, 6 Nov. 1990 (Doc.A/45/697), was that virgin women condemned to death were forcibly married to officials on the eve of their execution. These officials would then rape the condemned, in the belief that such would prevent her from going to Heaven. This is a blatant violation of Article 7 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, which prohibits torture, cruel or degrading treatment or punishment. This point of law was successfully argued in the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 1998, (IT-95-17/1-PT) setting the precedent, which elaborated:

"Rape of a detainee by an official of the State must be considered to be a grave and abhorrent form of ill-treatment given the ease with which the offender can exploit the vulnerability and weakened resistance of his victim"

No commentary can serve justice in condemning such a depraved and lamentable practice and system endorsed by the authorities in Iran. The diseased and deteriorated condition of the minds of the offiicials is illustrated by their warped belief that raping a virgin will actually serve to prevent her from entering heaven, and instead spending eternity in hell. It beggars belief what type of a 'God' these people believe in.