Calls for Action Against Iranian Women's Oppression

The Iranian Islamic scholar Sedigheh Vasmaghi, who is currently imprisoned, is urging the international community to put an end to the ongoing oppression of women by the Iranian regime.

In a letter from prison, Vasmaghi issued the plea to the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission and other international human rights bodies, detailing her own personal abuses and the systemic oppression under the Islamic Republic's policies.

Vasmaghi, who writes that she has devoted a significant portion of her life to studying and teaching Islamic jurisprudence, also asserts that there is no religious mandate under Islamic Sharia for women to cover their hair.

Security forces arbitrarily detained Vasmaghi on March 16 and transferred her to Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison.

Her arrest followed her public criticism of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as a dictator and her condemnation of the compulsory hijab laws, which have been central to the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom movement sparked by Mahsa Jina Amini's death at the hands of the country’s so-called morality police.

Vasmaghi was subjected to interrogation without the presence of legal representation and transferred to prison without due legal process.

During her imprisonment, Vasmaghi says she has endured numerous hardships.

She has been denied access to legal counsel, appropriate medical treatment, and even basic accommodations for her disability. Her requests for assistance have been ignored, and she has been isolated from her family for refusing to wear a hijab. Additionally, she has suffered from health issues, exacerbated by stress and initially neglected by prison authorities.

Vasmaghi's opposition and protest extend beyond the mandatory hijab law itself to encompass the broader suppression of women's rights and dignity in Iran.