What women like Faezeh Hashemi face in Iran and why their struggle matters



Iranian women's national soccer team line up before a qualifying match against Jordan / Reuters

In recent weeks, the Iranian regime has cracked down on journalists and activists in the lead-up to parliamentary elections in early March 2012. In another instance of the regime eating its own, Faezeh Hashemi, the prominent daughter of former president Ayatollah Akbar Rafsanjani, was one of the activists targeted. On January 3, she was sentenced to 6 months in prison for spreading propaganda about the Islamic Republic. The charge is related to comments she made in April 2011 to an opposition news source accusing the regime of being run by "thugs and hooligans." Hashemi herself was harassed by security forces on several occasions. As part of her sentence, she has been banned from any political or organizational activity for 5 years. She can appeal, but clearly the regime wants to keep her - and by extension her father - quiet in the run-up to the March elections. She's a de facto hostage.

An interesting Iranian film, Salam Rugby (2010), documents Hashemi's harassment and shows an attack against her in one of its final scenes. (You can watch a YouTube clip in Persian of the the incident here.) As its name implies, Salam Rugby follows the growth of women's rugby teams in Iran. Rugby is a controversial sport for women in many countries because it challenges traditional ideas about women's physical capabilities, mental toughness, and behavioral norms. In Iran, it clearly pushes the boundaries too far for the mullahs, and they do their best to thwart the sport. One of the female players in the film says that all the hurdles put in front of them are just another form of "mental torture." One coach was removed from his position after being threatened with legal action and charges of prostitution were he to come within 10 meters of his female players. Another team was only able to play two competitive matches over seven years.