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September/October 05

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Condoleeza Rice, Hilary Clinton, Melinda Gate, Margaret Whitman, Yulia Timoshenko

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Kurdish women's rights activist arrested in Iran Thu. 4 Aug 2005

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Aug. 04 ? A prominent women?s rights activist in Iranian Kurdistan was arrested during a gathering organised in protest against the murder of a young Kurd by Iran?s State Security Forces, a Persian-language website reported.

The website Rooz reported that Roya Toloui, the editor of Rassan, a monthly based in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj, was arrested after being summoned by the intelligence unit of the SSF on several occasions in the past few months on charges of ?disturbing the peace? and ?acting against national security?. She had also been accused of ?inciting ethnic division?.

Toloui?s monthly Rassan had so far published three issues all of which mainly discussed the plight of female Kurds in Iran.

Born in 1966, Toloui holds a postgraduate degree in practical science and, with her husband, owns a medical laboratory in Sanandaj. She is a founding member of the Association of Kurdish Women in Favour of Peace in Kurdistan. She has a daughter and a son.

On several occasions, the authorities had warned Toloui not to carry out interviews with foreign radio stations.

Iran?s restive Kurdish population have been the victims of systematic oppression by the Iran?s clerical leadership since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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« ROZANEH »

Parvin Javdan (Vocals)
Parvin was born in Tehran. At the age of 15 she went to study in the U.K., where she graduated in philosophy at London University. In 1980 she returned to Iran and started learning Avaz with Master Shahram Nazeri. Some years later, she took up setar with Master Jalal Zolfonun. After forming Rozaneh Group together with Zohreh Bayat in 2000, she has been giving concerts in different parts of Europe, releasing and recording CDs. She also teaches Avaz.

Zohreh Bayat (Vocals)
Zohreh was born in Tehran and studied Avaz with Master Shahram Nazeri. She has a degree in Persian Literature. After forming the Rozaneh Group together with Parvin Javdan in 2000 she has given concerts in different parts of Europe, releasing and recording CD's. She has been teaching Avaz for many years.

Since the formation of the Rozaneh Group in 2000, Parvin Javdan and Zohreh Bayat have released a CD and given various concerts in different European cities. They have recently finished the recording of a soon-to-be-released CD.

Bita Ghassemi (Kamancheh)
Bita was born in 1977 in Tehran and started learning to play kamancheh with Master Ali Akbar Shekarchi. She graduated in music at the University of Tehran. She has played in many groups and has accompanied well known musicians and vocalists such as Hengameh Akhavan , Tolui and Behruzi Nia. Since 2001 she has played in all the concerts and recordings of the Rozaneh Group.

Nastaran Kimiavi (Tar)
Nastaran was born in 1981 in Tehran. She started learning to play the Tar at the age of 10 and later went to the Tehran Music lnstitute (Honarestane Musughi) where she completed the intermediate level with masters such as Hemmati and Zarif. Later she went to university to complete her studies in music. At this stage she learned tar with Master Talai, Master Pirniakan and Master Alizadeh. She graduated in 2003. Apart from giving tar recitals and playing in the Rozaneh Group she has been teaching Orff to children since 2001.

Bahareh Mirmoghtadei (Tonbak)
Bahareh was born in 1981 in Tehran. She started learning tonbak at the age of 4 with Master Morteza Aayan and later with Master Esmaili. She was among the best students of Ustad Esmaili and has accompanied some of the best musicians of Iran such as Ustad Musavi and Ustad Shahnaz. Apart from tonbak, Bahareh plays the piano and tar. She graduated in music at Tehran University.

Golnaz Khazei (Daf)
Golnaz was born in Tehran in 1983. She started her musical training in santur at the age of 10. Some years later she took up daf with Master Mehrdad Karim Khavari. She has done research on the different styles of daf playing among the Kurds of Iran and Iraq. When she was 18 she was chosen as the second best santur and daf player of Iran in a national music festival. She has participated in many concerts inside and outside of Iran. At the moment she teaches daf and santur at the same time as studying music at university.

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Iran to Suppress Females More So
By J. Grant Swank Jr. (08/23/05)

Females are not considered worth that much in Islamic societies. They are less than scum, actually. They are conceived with ten curses upon them. These curses are in the form of revealing their genitalia in public. When a female marries, one curse is lifted; the others remain for life.

Therefore, existence for females is worse than death. They are consigned to breathe behind an oppressive veil. They are garbed from head to foot. They must adhere to every male within the clan; if not, they can be shot in the head. Soccer stadiums in the Saddam Hussein regime days were often used to shoot females in the head. A husband or brother or uncle could pull the trigger.

"Honor killing" is popular with those Islamic males who conclude that a woman within the family has disgraced the household. Any so-called reason can be foisted on the female. Then the woman is murdered, her throat slit or some other means.

Therefore, when the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran informs world media that Islamic leadership is going to increase oppressive moves against females, one can only imagine another slice of hell set upon the nation’s women. It’s known as The Gender Apartheid Policy. This measure is to be strengthened in definition by Sexual Segregation bent against females.

Islamic clerics in particular are pushing for these atrocities. It is in keeping with strict, legalistic, killing cult interpretations of the Koran and extra-Koran Islamic rules dating as far back as 14 centuries in the tribal Saudi Arabian sections which became the "cradle of Islam."

Mosque worshipers increasingly are hearing rabid speeches from clerics pitched at ridiculing and besmirching females. The sermons are definitely anti-woman rants offered on Fridays in "collective prayers." The purpose is to "mobilize their followers in what has been qualified as ‘making respect the values of Islam and morality’" a top priority. Of course, that is code language for denigrating females.

There are now police sent out to catch females in breaking the rules. The police are known as "The Moral Squad." They are known far and wide for their cruelty. All this is condoned, indeed fostered by the Muslim religion.

Those studying world religions have concluded with today’s increased knowledge of Islam that Islam is not so much a world religion among religions as an outright killing cult intent on slaying every non-Muslim and every cowardly Muslim who will not enter into the slaughter against the infidels.

The Moral Squad is another evidence of the maniacal base to Islam. It is a part of the demonic craze baptized as legitimate, even betraying members of its own society — women.

All the while the National Organization for Women and other feminists worldwide raise not a cry against the Islamic mistreatment of females. It is amazing. Such organizations as NOW spend their time and energy defending killing womb babies and therefore don’t have time nor energy to combat the actual evils perpetrated against their own gender around the globe.

It is unfathomable but nevertheless reality that these organizations advertising they defend the rights of females overlook quite easily the well-attested abuse brought against females in the name of Islam, Allah and the Koran.

Visit the "Women History and Conditions" in the "About Iran" section of the SMCCDI's website for more information on the case of Iranian women.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/article_3043.shtml

http://daneshjoo.org/publishers/smccdinews/article_4464.shtml

Copyright © 2005 by J. Grant Swank, Jr.

Ed: Views are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of American Daily.