Progress Amid Resistance

IRAN 125Under Shari‘a, the lawful guardian of children is the father, or in hisabsence, paternal kin.Shari‘a is the only source of legislation under Article 4 of the constitution.Therefore, any changes or reforms made to women’s rights are contingentupon the political influence of the ulema (Islamic clerics) and theirinterpretation of Islam. Shiites adhere to the Ja‘fari school of Shari‘a, whichdiffers in some respects from the four Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence.For instance, women with no brothers are entitled to greater inheritancerights than their Sunni counterparts. Still, women of both sects facediscrimination in their inheritance rights, their right to act as a witness incourt, and the right to become a judge.The Ja‘fari approach to women and gender relations, much like theSunni schools of jurisprudence, is frequently at odds with the universalismand egalitarianism of modern international human rights conventions. Thereformist Sixth Majlis made several reservations when it ratified CEDAWin 2003, but the move nevertheless caused uproar among conservativeclerics in Qum, the largest center of Shiite scholarship. The ratificationwas therefore vetoed by the Guardian Council. The disputed legislationwas then sent to the Expediency Council for a resolution, and it has beenawaiting consideration there ever since.Women cannot pass on nationality and citizenship to their childrenor their husbands. Children’s nationality and citizenship are determinedthrough their fathers only. 10 A Muslim man can marry non-Muslim womenwith no legal problem or state intervention, as it is assumed that thewife’s religion and citizenship are determined through her husband. AMuslim woman can marry a previously non-Muslim man only if it isproved that he has converted to Islam, and even in this case, a non-Iranian man cannot earn citizenship through his Iranian wife. 11 Thesecitizenship restrictions have affected thousands of Iranian women, particularlythose married to Afghan or Iraqi refugees, as well as expatriateIranian women married to non-Iranians. As Iran has pushed millions ofsuch refugees to return to their homelands in recent years, many Iranianwomen have been forced to choose between their native country andtheir noncitizen husbands and children.The penal code is broken down into hodud (or hadd, singular) punishments,which are prescribed in religious law; qisas, or the law of retribution,in which the punishment is equal to the suffering of the victim;