Iran’s brutality toward women should shock West into seeking regime change
In Iran, young women are jailed for specious reasons, then raped before being executed in a barbaric effort to keep them out of heaven. The people of Iran are desperate for a show of support from the West. On International Women’s Day, will the West finally stand up for women in Iran?
By Reza Kahlili / March 8, 2011
Los Angeles
On June 20 2009, a beautiful young woman was standing alongside the road in Tehran, watching her fellow Iranians taking to the streets demanding freedom and protesting the most recent fraudulent presidential election. Neda Agha-Soltan looked on, perhaps in disbelief that, once again, the fanatic leaders of the Islamic Regime had stolen the hope of her generation for democracy, human dignity, and equality.
Then, a shocking event took place that riveted the world’s attention on the cruelty of the Iranian leaders against their people. A member of the Basij forces shot Neda. As she fell to the ground and her beautiful eyes took a last look at the sky, Neda (which means “divine message” in Farsi) became the unforgettable face of the Iranian people. Her death became the iconic symbol of a nation, which, in its quest for justice and freedom, has suffered tens of thousands of casualties.
Today, while the world is celebrating International Women’s Day, honoring the women who have made the world a better place, it is essential that we remember the innocent women of Iran and what they’ve lost at the hands of a vicious regime.
Cruelest of punishments
Ever since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, women have been subjected to the cruelest of punishments.
Despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini’s promise that he would allow women freedom of choice in clothing, activities, and lifestyle, one of the first orders of the Islamic government was to force all women to wear the Islamic hijab, covering their hair and their body. No makeup was allowed, and they could not be seen with anyone other than their husbands or relatives. Anyone caught disobeying the law was subjected to lashing and imprisonment.
The ruling clerics called themselves God’s representatives on earth, and anyone opposing them was deemed a mohareb, an enemy of God. The Quran authorizes torture and death for enemies of God.
The Islamic regime has taken this authority to its most heinous extreme.
Thousands of innocent young girls have been brought to prison for the most specious of reasons. They’re thrown into small cells, designed for just a few, along with sometimes 30 of their fellow victims. As a CIA spy in Iran, I was a witness to this.
Hena Begum took six days to die
