" Disregard and contempt for human rights have
resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.
... Human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief.
[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]
Ex-MP Jackie Ballard who recently moved to Iran, states it is racist
to be anti-Islam and says it is 'time "liberal" opinion
started to try to understand Islam better and to learn something
about the culture of the Middle East...' (January 7 article in The
Guardian entitled 'Another kind of freedom').
Islamic Virtue protected.
Iranian women in the Caspian Sea in "proper" attire.
She
further asserts that women in Iran have 'freedoms denied to many in
the west', including that a friend can breastfeed in restaurants,
that Iranian women 'keep their own names after marriage' and because
she feels safer in Iran ['If women dress in a sexually provocative
or attractive way, perhaps it is not surprising that men
respond to them as sexual beings…'].
Ballard's pathetic examples of so-called freedoms overlook the
real and bleak status of women living under Islamic laws. 1. In Iran, veiling is compulsory for
women in all public places; even children aged nine to 11 are forbidden
from wearing 'flashy hues'. 2. They are subject to harassment, imprisonment
and fines if their dress or behaviour is deemed inappropriate. 3. They are segregated in public places,
including buses, schools and health care. 4. Women can only work in an occupation
that is not contrary to Islam; the law, for example, prohibits women
from becoming judges since they are believed to be swayed by emotion
rather than logic.
