How outrage over killing of Iranian girl is helping women鈥檚 rights
Romina Ashrafi, a 14-year-old Iranian girl, was killed by her father in a so-called honor killing.
Screen grab from Twitter
LONDON
Farmer Reza Ashrafi may have considered the death of his 14-year-old daughter Romina in the name of family honor inevitable. But its ability to spark an uproar that is challenging Iranian traditions of patriarchy and improving women鈥檚 and children鈥檚 rights had to appear unlikely.
After all, hundreds of Iranian women die each year in so-called honor killings.
Yet revulsion over Romina鈥檚 gruesome murder by his hand in late May, amplified by the power of social media, has done just that: prompted a national debate in Iran that shows how significant evolutionary change can come to even the most traditional corners of a society.
Why We Wrote This
Just as a brutal killing in America is helping to change thought about racism, so has one in Iran, challenging traditions that have long devalued the lives and rights of women and children.
Romina had a boyfriend, 15 years older: a biker with a bearded hipster look, three tattoos on his neck, and a reputation for 鈥渉arassing鈥� girls at the local school in their village of Sefid Sangan in northwestern Iran.
Romina鈥檚 father did not approve, according to family accounts told to Iranian media. He bought rat poison and told his wife to convince Romina to use it to commit suicide, or at least teach her to 鈥渉ang herself,鈥� to save him the trouble of killing her.
Amid such threats, the student with A grades, long black hair, and an easy smile 鈥撀爓hose once-adoring father used to bring her cakes and snacks, according to the school principal 鈥撀爈ast month ran away with her boyfriend.
鈥淚鈥檓 leaving, Daddy. You were going to kill me anyway, right?鈥� Romina reportedly wrote in a goodbye note. 鈥淚f people ask about me, tell them I died.鈥�
When Mr. Ashrafi located her, days later, he convinced authorities despite her protests that Romina would be safe in his care. Yet the father beheaded his daughter with a sickle as she slept.
Most intrafamily murders in Iran disappear in silence, as they often do in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, and elsewhere. But the barbarous details of Romina鈥檚 death spread quickly, moving the needle of outrage and change toward protecting the lives of women and children.
A deputy justice minister whose portfolio includes children鈥檚 rights, Mahmoud Abbasi, said Romina鈥檚 father was 鈥渟tuck in the Middle Ages.鈥�
鈥淥wner of the blood鈥�
Lawmakers quickly approved a measure to criminalize child abuse and neglect, now frequently referred to as 鈥淩omina鈥檚 law,鈥� that had languished for 11 years. President Hassan Rouhani urged that the bill be fast-tracked, along with another drafted eight years ago criminalizing sexual and physical abuse of women.
That latter bill has yet to be passed, even though official 2018 statistics indicate that two-thirds of married women聽have been exposed to domestic violence. But the steps signal how social media 鈥� with both the wider awareness it engenders, and popular pressure it can bring to bear 鈥撀爃as enhanced the impact of activists pushing for social change, even among the most hidebound.
Critical in this case is widespread anger over Iran鈥檚 current law, based on Shiite Muslim tradition, which stipulates that Mr. Ashrafi, as the male guardian of his daughter and therefore 鈥渙wner of the blood,鈥� can鈥檛 face the death penalty for murdering her. At most, he faces 10 years in prison.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a long road to change the culture of a nation, the thinking of a person that, for hundreds of years, from their dads and their grandfathers, they鈥檝e learned if your child says something, you can kill them, if your wife says something, you can do that,鈥� says Nasrin Izadpanah, a lawyer in Tehran who often handles family cases.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 change it overnight, but like other nations that have done that, it is doable,鈥� says Ms. Izadpanah. Removing 鈥渃ultural poverty鈥� requires starting with how children are taught at school to 鈥渓earn that they can鈥檛 act as the law,鈥� she says.
鈥淔ive years from now, maybe we can鈥檛 change anything about the law, but people鈥檚 social consciousness will change, the culture will evolve,鈥� she says.
Indeed, Iranian women have achieved far more than most of their regional peers. They are vice presidents, doctors, and lawyers 鈥� even a Nobel Peace Prize winner 鈥撀燼nd form the majority of university students and graduates.
Many killings
Yet they are afflicted by killings by male relatives at a rate of at least one each day in the country of 83 million. At a conference on the 鈥淧athology of Filicide鈥� in Tehran, convened after Romina鈥檚 death, sociologist Saeed Madani stated that 20% of all murders in Iran are honor killings.
Those percentages track rare official figures released by Iranian police in 2013 and 2014. In 2011, at least 340 Iranian women were victims of honor killings.
Wide exposure of Romina鈥檚 case has, in fact, triggered a cascade of news about half a dozen other recent grisly murders, which include poisoning, the forced drinking of acid, stabbing of a pregnant wife, and a father鈥檚 killing of his adult daughter with an iron bar for coming home late at night.
鈥淲e鈥檙e at this stage that, with people鈥檚 access to social media ... access to information has changed exponentially, even in the last six聽 or seven years,鈥� says Tara Sepehri Far, the Iran researcher for Human Rights Watch in Washington, D.C.
鈥淎 whole generation of people who never caught up with lap-tops and e-mail now use a phone, have social media accounts, and use WhatsApp and Telegram,鈥� says Ms. Sepehri Far, noting that even remote villages have 3G and 4G networks.
鈥淪o what is happening is these cases are getting more attention, while the [past] grassroots work is finally paying off. Because ultimately, you鈥檙e dealing with a society that is evolving,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen this sparks domestic outrage, then [authorities] have to move the ball in some way.鈥�
Urgent legal reforms are needed, lawyer Alireza Azarbaijani told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA). But the real problem is patriarchy 鈥渆xacerbated by traditional fanaticism and ignorance that are sugarcoated with such notions as honor, dignity, or protection of namous [family female chastity].鈥�
Cases 鈥渒ept hidden鈥�
Even the death penalty may not be deterrent enough, suggests Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, a senior lawyer.
鈥淲e have dozens or perhaps hundreds of Romina-like cases in Iran, but they are kept hidden and receive no media coverage,鈥� he told ILNA. The solution is 鈥渞aising awareness ... to avert such harsh treatment of women at the hands of men.鈥�
Iran鈥檚 supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has not spoken publicly of Romina鈥檚 death. But his website reposted these comments from 1997: 鈥淎ny violation or physical harm against women has to be responded to with severe punishment.鈥�
Yet the challenge is encapsulated in Romina鈥檚 own divided family. Her mother, Rana Dashti, says she can鈥檛 look her husband in the eyes and will seek the death penalty. But the death notice does not include a portrait of Romina 鈥撀燼 red rose is pictured in its place 鈥� and Mr. Ashrafi is listed as the top 鈥渕ourner鈥� of a males-only lineup.
Still, few defend the murder. The conservative Farhikhtegan newspaper called prison a 鈥渓enient punishment.鈥�
Even Kobra Khazali, the ultraconservative head of the Socio-Cultural Council of Women and Family 鈥撀爓ho argues vehemently against raising the minimum marriage age for girls above 13, or allowing women into sports stadiums 鈥� called for the judge to 鈥渇ocus on the larger public aspects of the crime and sentence the man to death.鈥�
Graphic reporting 鈥渃reated a shock and spread like wildfire,鈥� says a political analyst in Tehran, who asked not to be named. 鈥淭he direction of the wind is changing, even among the conservatives. They cannot accept that a father can kill his children. Maybe it was tacitly agreed decades ago, but not anymore.鈥�
An old battle
Still the challenge of making change is immense, says Parvin Ardalan, a veteran women鈥檚 rights activist. In 2005 鈥撀燼fter dozens of women were attacked by police for street protests 鈥� she launched the One Million Signatures Campaign, which some credit as the seed for today鈥檚 progress.
When the Monitor spoke to her in Tehran in early 2009, she had just been awarded the Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women鈥檚 Freedom, and faced multiple security charges.
The petition aimed to 鈥渋ncrease consciousness in society and thinking of equality,鈥� she said back then. These days, that same dynamic is enhanced exponentially by social media and 鈥渕ass awareness,鈥� which pressures authorities to make changes, says Ms. Ardalan, who now lives in Malm枚, Sweden.
She recalls the limits of the previous era of grassroots activism, when she and fellow campaigners went door to door to spread their message. During a seven-day stint in Evin prison, she gave a women鈥檚 rights booklet to an interested female guard.
鈥淲e tried to use everywhere as a platform for ourselves,鈥� recalls Ms. Ardalan. 鈥淲hat has changed? Now the news is increasing a lot ... making people have a reaction, to demand a response.鈥�