Iran

[Mr.xxx]

I am a Norwegian man travelling to Iran on business. Any info on girls in Tehran?

[ozlo49]

I guess there isn't much around that foreigners know about?

[blaccjacc]

Here is the latest from Iran
* * *
WORLDWIDE APPEAL - Save Leila from execution
Dec 13, 2004, 15:53
Iran: Girl With Mental Age of Eight Given Death Sentence After Mother Forced Her Into Prostitution From Early Age in mullahs' islamic republic of Iran.
A 19-year old girl, "Leila M", who has a mental age of eight, reportedly faces imminent execution for "morality-related" offences after being forced into prostitution by her mother as a child. According to a Tehran newspaper report of 28 November, she was sentenced to death by a court in the central Iranian city of Arak and the sentence has now been passed to the Supreme Court for confirmation.

Leila M was reportedly sentenced to death on charges of "acts contrary to chastity" by controlling a brothel, having intercourse with blood relatives and giving birth to an illegitimate child. She is to be flogged before she is executed. She had apparently "confessed" to the charges. Earlier reports stated that there would be an appeal, and the 28 November report indicates that this process is now at an end.

Social workers have reportedly tested her mental capacities repeatedly and each time have found Leila to have a mental age of eight. However, she has apparently never been examined by the court-appointed doctors, and was sentenced to death solely on the basis of her explicit confessions, without consideration of her background or mental health.

Leyla was forced into prostitution by her mother when she was eight years old, according to the 28 November report, and was raped repeatedly thereafter. She gave birth to her first child when she was nine, and was sentenced to 100 lashes for prostitution at around the same time. At the age of 12, her family sold her to an Afghan man to become his "temporary wife". His mother became her new pimp, "selling her body without her consent".

At the age of 14 she became pregnant again, and received a further 100 lashes, after which she was moved to a maternity ward to give birth to twins. After this "temporary marriage", her family sold her again, to a 55-year-old man, married with two children, who had Leila's customers come to his house.

The newspaper report makes no mention of her family or the men to whom she was married. In Iranian law, in a case of "intercourse with a blood relative" both parties are considered culpable, but only Leila M has been referred to in the reports of which Amnesty International is aware.

Amnesty International members in the UK are writing urgently to the Iranian authorities, calling for the execution to be halted immediately. Amnesty International UK's Stop Violence Against Women Campaign Manager Jennifer Campbell said:

"Leila's story is a litany of violence and abuse. Sold into prostitution at the age of eight, she has experienced horrific sexual violence throughout her short life. Now she faces flogging and execution.

"We must stop this. Amnesty members are campaigning to save Leyla from execution, writing to the Iranian authorities to let them know that we will not stand by mutely and let this happen. We urge other people to join us and take action straight away.

"Three child offenders have been executed in Iran already this year. We must act now to stop there being a fourth."

For details of how to help stop the execution of "Leyla M", please go to: www.amnesty.org.uk/action/irandp.shtml

Background Information

Iranian law recognises two types of marriage - "permanent" and "temporary" (for any defined period from 24 hours to 99 years). A man can have up to four "permanent" wives and numerous temporary ones.

As a party to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Iran has undertaken not to execute anyone for an offence committed when they were under 18 years old. The Iranian authorities are now considering legislation (the draft law on the Establishment of Children's Courts) that would prohibit the use of the death penalty for offences committed under the age of 18. Article 41 of this law requires the authorities to have child offenders examined by psychiatrists and social workers.

Iran has executed at least three child offenders in 2004. In addition to this, on 12 November 2004, a 14-year-old boy died after receiving 85 lashes for eating in public during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. According to unconfirmed reports, the metal cable used to flog him struck the back of his head, causing a brain haemorrhage.

One in three women suffer serious violence in their lifetime, at home, in the community or in war, just because they are women. Amnesty International is running a global campaign to 'Stop Violence Against Women'. The human rights organisation is calling on governments to repeal laws that permit and encourage violence against women, and on communities to challenge attitudes that allow violence to continue. For more information visit: www.amnesty.org.uk/svaw.

[blaccjacc]

Death penalty in Iran 'vice' case

Cruel and inhuman punishments continue in Iran, said a recent UN report.

Iranian officials have confirmed that a court has sentenced a young woman to death for prostitution but denied that she is mentally disabled.
Leyla Mafi was sentenced more than a year ago at a court in Arak after being found guilty of having illegal sex.

A human rights group monitoring the case said Ms Mafi had a mental age of eight, but this has been disputed by Iranian judicial officials.

The decision is now under review by the Iranian Supreme Court.

Ms Mafi's case was given international exposure last week by London-based rights group Amnesty International.

They said Iran was breaking its commitments as a party to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights - which include a promise not execute anyone under the age of 18.

The organisation said the woman's mother had forced her into prostitution at the age of eight.

It also said she had been repeatedly raped and had given birth to a baby at the age of nine.

Iranian officials have rejected some of the group's findings.

They say Ms Mafi is mentally and physically normal and had only been working as a prostitute as an adult.

Under Iranian law, girls over the age of nine and boys over 16 face the death penalty for crimes such as rape and murder.

In some circumstances, capital punishment is also imposed for illegal sexual relationships.

[mike hussey]

Iran

After 25 years of mullah rule, things are not too gloomy in Iran. In Tehran alone, there are an estimated 84,000 women and girls in prostitution, many of them are on the streets, others are in the 250 brothels that reportedly operate in the city.

Many of the girls come from impoverished rural areas. Drug addiction is epidemic throughout Iran, and some addicted parents sell their children to support their habits. Unemployment is high; 28% for youth 15 to 29 years of age, and 43% for women 15 to 20 years of age. This is a serious factor in driving restless youth to accept risky offers for work.

According to an official source in Tehran, there has been a 635% increase in the number of teen-age girls in prostitution. One factor contributing to the increase in prostitution and the sex-slave trade is the number of teen girls who are running away from home. The girls are rebelling against fundamentalist-imposed restrictions on their freedom, domestic abuse and parental drug addictions. In their flight to freedom, the girls find more abuse and exploitation.

90% of girls who run away from home will end up in prostitution. As a result of runaways, in Tehran alone there are an estimated 25,000 street children, most of them girls. Pimps prey upon street children, runaways and vulnerable high-school girls in city parks.

In cities, shelters have been set up to provide assistance for runaways. Officials who run these shelters are often corrupt; they run prostitution rings using the girls from the shelter. For example in Karaj, the former head of a Revolutionary Tribunal and seven other senior officials were arrested in connection with a prostitution ring that used 12 to 18 year old girls from a shelter called the Center of Islamic Orientation.

And in Qom, the center for religious training in Iran, when a prostitution ring was broken up, some of the people arrested were from government agencies, including the Department of Justice.

[blaccjacc]

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Public Statement

24 December 2004

Iran: Lives in the balance: an open appeal to Iran's judicial authorities
The case of Leyla Mafi, who faces execution on account of charges including sexual intercourse with blood relatives, giving birth to an illegitimate child and acts contrary to chastity, flies in the face of justice and human dignity. It also breaches Iran's own obligationsunder international law, Amnesty International said.
On 10 December 2004, Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action appeal on behalf of Leyla Mafi, who, according to the organisation's information, was facing flogging and execution on charges of acts contrary to chastity (a'mal-e khalaf-e 'ofat), by controlling a brothel, having intercourse with blood relatives (eteham-e zena ba maharem) and giving birth to an illegitimate child (tavallod-e bache-e haram). Leyla Mafi had reportedly been forced into prostitution from the age of eight and was raped by those to whom her mother introduced her. She reportedly has a mental age of eight yet she had been sentenced to death by a lower court in Arak around May 2004 on the basis of a "confession" that she had made to the court. The circumstances of this were not clear.

In the past two days, in response to urgent appeals from within Iran, from Amnesty International's Urgent Action network and from foreign governments, the Iranian authorities have taken the exceptional step of publicly commenting on the case. Amnesty International welcomes this engagement by the authorities, but believes that statements made by the judiciary leave far too many questions unanswered while exposing the shortcomings of Iranian law in respect to the international standards it is committed to uphold.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases as the ultimate cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and a violation of the right to life. Iran has made an explicit and unreservedcommitment under article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), that it will impose the death sentence "only for the most serious crimes". This means that a death sentence should be a most exceptional measure, and in any event is applicable only to intentional crimes with lethal or other extremely grave consequences.

The Iranian authorities have contested Amnesty International's information about Leyla Mafi's current age and mental capacity, and have stated that the charges relate to events which took place while she was of adult age. In view of the inconsistencies in information, Amnesty International believes it is essential to have an independent professional assessment of her age and mental capacity. This is a crucial factor in determining her awareness of whether she was committing a crimeunder Iranian law. Full account should also be taken of the social conditions in which she may have entered prostitution and the reported sexual abuse and exploitation which she was subjected to throughout her childhood and adolescence. However, irrespective of her age, mental capacity, coercion or criminal responsibility, on no account should she face execution.

Amnesty International calls on Iran's legislators and judicial authorities to work urgently to bring domestic law and practice in line with Iran's obligations under international law as set out in the ICCPR.

On 16 December 2004, Amnesty International issued another Urgent Action appeal in respect to Hajieh Esmailvand and an unnamed man who has since been identified as Ruhollah G, aged 17 at the time of their alleged act of adultery. The two are reportedly in detention in Jolfa, in north-western Iran. Both face a death sentence which, in Hajieh Esmailvand's case is to be carried out by stoning following a November 2004 decision of the Supreme Court which upheld the death sentences. It was reported that the Supreme Court had ordered the stoning sentence against Hajieh Esmailvand to be carried out before 21 December. On 23 December, the authorities reportedly temporarily stayed the execution of Hajieh Esmailvand, referring the case to the Amnesty and Clemency Commission (ACC, or Komisyon-e 'Afv va Bakhshoudegi) to review the sentence of execution by stoning. It is not clear whether the ACC will also review the other elements of her sentence, originally intended to be imposed before the execution, of flogging and a five-year custodial sentence. The ACC, a part of the judiciary, is empowered to reduce sentences or pardon prisoners. Ruhollah G, a child offender, who allegedlycommitted the acts in question while under the age of 18, is still awaiting his execution.

While welcoming this stay of execution of Hajieh Esmailvand, Amnesty International continues to call for the death sentence on both parties to be overturned, since their alleged "crimes" are not internationally recognisable criminal offences. The UN Human Rights Committee (in the case of Toonen v Australia) has made clear that treating adultery and fornication as criminal offences does not comply with international human rights standards.

BACKGROUND
In December 2002, the Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, reportedly sent a directive to judges ordering a moratorium on execution by stoning and for alternative punishments to be used instead. However, legal provision for execution by stoning remains, and in September 2003 a law was passed listing regulations for the implementation of particular sentences, including stoning. Since the reported moratorium, Amnesty International is aware of at least one case in which a sentence of execution by stoning has reportedly been issued. According to a report on 8 January 2004 in the Iran newspaper, a criminal court in city of Qazvin sentenced an unnamed man to 80 lashes and 10 years' imprisonment to be followed by execution by stoning. It is not known whether this sentence has been carried out.

[blaccjacc]

Info current as of March 25, 2005

Iran: Prize-Winning Documentary Exposes Hidden Side Of Iranian Society
By Golnaz Esfandiari

Iranian-born director Nahid Persson earned high honors at the recent Creteil International Women's Films Festival for her chronicle of two young women on the streets of Tehran. "Prostitution Behind the Veil" follows the lives of two young friends -- Minna and Fariba -- who have turned to prostitution to make a living. Persson's film was awarded the festival's jury prize and the audience prize for best documentary. RFE/RL spoke with Persson about the film and how it is being received.


Prague, 25 March 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Nahid Persson spent more than a year filming the daily lives of the film's two young mothers, who are raising their children alone and supporting heroin addictions through prostitution.

Persson, who left Iran for Sweden two decades ago, says she met and befriended Fariba and Minna while filming a fortune-teller in Tehran about two years ago. She says the women were happy that someone was interested in their plight.

Once filming began, Persson says she was herself at risk filming in Iran -- where prostitution is illegal and adulterers can face the death penalty.

"We had a natural relation. We trusted each other," Persson says. "They even asked me on several occasions to go with them when they were going to meet some of their regular customers, because they were from some police station. But I didn't do it out of the fear that I had to film someone who wears the uniform of a pasdar [Iran's Revolutionary Guard]. And it was also better for them that I didn't do it."

She says most of Fariba and Minna's customers complied with Islamic law through temporary marriages of convenience called "sighehs."

Fariba and Minna are close friends who provide each other with support. Persson describes their lives: "Their life was about finding clients and getting money so that they could buy an egg or some food for their children. And because of their addiction, they had to buy heroin. They didn't have a normal life. When one becomes addicted to drugs, one forgets about [real] life."

Drug addiction is a major problem in Iran, especially among young men. But the number of female drug users is said to be growing.Iranian newspapers estimate that there are currently about 300,000 women working the streets. Many are runaways who have fled abusive families. Others sell their bodies out of simple poverty.

Persson says both women acquired their heroin addictions through drug-addicted husbands.

"Fariba had a terrible kidney pain, [and] once her husband told her, 'Smoke some of this, you'll be fine.' She didn't know that it is very dangerous. She thought she would smoke it once, feel better, and that would be it," Persson says. "But when she smokes the first [time], she sees that the pain goes away. And every time she suffered kidney pain, she would smoke. And it went on like this until one day her husband sends her into the street and tells her, 'Go bring clients.'"

Minna's story is a similar one. After her husband was jailed on drug-related charges, she found herself and her infant child on the street. That's where she met her first customer.

Persson says both women turned to prostitution out of distress and desperation: "They don't get any social support. Both of them really had no choice -- like thousands of other women. Fariba told me how the first time had been terrible for her, and she didn't want to do it but she had to."

To the dismay of authorities in Iran's Islamic republic, the number of prostitutes has grown in recent years. Iranian newspapers estimate that there are currently about 300,000 women working the streets. Many are runaways who have fled abusive families. Others sell their bodies out of simple poverty.

Iranian authorities have warned that without adequate support and an improvement in living conditions, the ranks of those who are officially labeled "street women" could increase.

"Prostitution Behind the Veil" has won a number of European awards. The director says she is especially proud of the most recent, the audience prize from a French women's films festival at Creteil.

Persson says many of those who have seen her documentary have praised her for showing a hidden side of Iranian society.

"People had a great reaction," Persson says. "But at all the screenings so far, people always ask me, 'Why have you put shame on Iran? We also have women who are doctors, women [who have achieved something].' And I say everywhere that, 'I know, we have many women activists, but even those women fighters are under pressure.' This film is not about whether Iran is a poor country or a rich one; it's not about that issue. The documentary is about what people have been through during the last 25 years."

"Prostitution Behind the Veil" will next compete at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

[grogmiester]

Well hear goes while I have no love loss for fundmentalists of any kind Christian or Islamist, but, I do have a question?

In the above post, the artical said that the girl gave birth to her first child at age nine? Is that a little young to be having a menstrel cycle and be able to have children? (be the first to admit female plumbing is a mystery to me)

I feel that the Islamic justice system is going after the wrong person they should be going after the people who put her into this situation

Please I do not whish to start a flame war (must get my nomex IIIa's on to protect me from the heat)

[brownluvswhite]

The report on fundamentalism was good, but can anyone here on the WSG forum answer the question that was asked by Mr XXX? Is it legal in Inran? Will tourists get into shit? How does one go about getting sex there? What do the girls look like? Are they brown/ white, blue eyes/ green eyes/ any blondes:? etc. I will be grateful if anyone can mention the prices too, and info on accomodation will be great...
thanks,
blw

[Villaking]

When I was in Isfahan few months ago, it is IMPOSSIBLE to look for girls unless this place called the Church where the modus operandi is to look for parked cars with girls inside but I think its more like pick up joint. Only between 4-6pm!

[canadianbird]

I would find out the laws and penalties for being a "John" in Iran. The laws are based on religious beliefs and tend to favour men over women.

Iran is not a country I would want legal problems.

[hilman]

It is the most fanatic and Muslim orthodox country - officially not external sex available.
you must make a contract with the Hooker in front of the Kadi or Imam
( prist ) to signe a married contract for one hour and up.
That sistem called SIRRA.

Few drugy hookers with children on the hands are standing in some lousy streets but never try to take them - to risky

In the other wayonly at home many of the Iranian gals are not dreess with the veil but it will be imposible to invite them to your hotel --soory but that country is the most deplorable in the world

[smiffsmack]

You guys are some crazy ass mofos even going to Iran, forget pussy there!!

[absurd_bill]

You said it Smiffsmack, with all the pussy floating around the rest of the globe, these guys rather go find a reason to get your apparatus chopped off!!!

Come to Dubai, PuSsY GaLoRe!!!!

[radiate76]

Whats up with Iran? Wanting to hang women for serving men. We should hang the terrorists that lurk about in this region.

Senior Iran cleric: Prostitutes must be hanged Mon. 10 Oct 2005



Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Oct. 10 – A senior Iranian cleric in the city of Qom called for death sentences to be handed down to prostitutes, a semi-official daily reported on Monday.

“Those who try to spread prostitution, corruption, and sins in society must be dealt with”, Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, one of the highest-ranking clerics in the holy city, said.

Shirazi said that drug dealers were among those who were spreading corruption in society, according to the hard-line daily Jomhouri Islami.

“These people are Mofsid Fi-Alarz and must be dealt with under Islamic law”, the senior Ayatollah said. Mofsid Fi-Alarz literally means “corruptors on earth” and under Iran’s Sharia law is punishable by death.

“If everyone feels responsibility for the orders of Islam, no one will dare to spread prostitution”, he said. “Anyone who stays silent in the face of social disorder and centres of corruption and prostitution has actually betrayed Islam”.





http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/new...p?storyid=3956