control and sexuality

Irangovernment. Despite the silencing of some human rights advocates, the Islamic Republic’sgender codes began to be relaxed, and the press debated aspects of penal law – an issuethat until then had been a red line that no one had dared to cross. In practice, many womenhad challenged the imposition of hijab from the outset, and constantly pushed back itsfrontiers, and the gender segregation codes had also been flouted, but in theory no debatehad been tolerated. By the early 2000s, colourful and stylish outfits had made their wayback onto the streets, and young people increasingly broke gender segregation rules withimpunity. The death penalty, and in particular the zina laws, were debated in the press;activists regularly organised seminars, lectures and events in universities and culturalcentres, to which reformists in Parliament or government ministries were sometimesinvited. In 2002, following the internal debates and a ‘constructive dialogue’ with theEuropean Union, the head of Judiciary issued a moratorium on stoning as punishmentfor zina, while keeping the laws on illicit sex unchanged. No case of stoning was reportedduring the period when the reformists were in office.Activists started to direct their energies from ‘cultural activities’ – a euphemism forcriticism of biases in law and society – to the newly created NGOs, which focused onissues such as the environment, defending the rights of political prisoners, legal servicesfor disadvantaged women, and the protection of abused children. Notable among NGOswere the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights, founded in 1999 by Emad ad-ddinBaghi, a theologian and journalist, 27 and the Defenders of Human Rights Centre, foundedin 2001 by five lawyers, 28 including Shirin Ebadi, whose Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 gavefurther confidence and hope to the activists. Celebrations of International Women’s Day, 8March, held during the second phase by some women activists in their private homes, nowbecame public events. Some of these activists openly called themselves ‘secular feminists’and started to distance themselves from the reformists in government. Others, exasperatedby the conservatives’ success in containing the reformists, became increasingly criticalof reformists in government and their strategies, and turned to pursuing their activismindependently of the state.Fourth Phase: Return of the Radicals, Birth of the Women’s Movementand CampaignsUnable to deliver on their electoral promises and bring change in the structures of power,the reformists lost popular support. In February 2003 and 2004, theocratic and undemocraticforces won back the city councils and Parliament; with Ahmadinejad’s election in 2005, theycontrolled all branches of the state. The new government set out to undo civil society’s modestbut steady gains during the reformist phase. Khatami had created a Centre for Women’s27 Baghi’s theoretical work has focused on reconciling Islamic and human rights law; he has beenimprisoned several times and his work has been internationally recognised; see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpEfavHftco. For his work on stoning, see Terman and Fijabi (2010).28 See http://www.humanrights-ir.org/php/view_en.php?objnr=233107