When the official site of Iran’s Security Force posted an article regarding an unruly boy charged with “endangering public safety,” for which he received the punishment of being paraded around town in women’s clothing, I thought of something that Hashemi Shahroudi (Iran’s head of judiciary) had said – a sentence which has arguably become his most famous expression. Upon accepting his position as the head of Iran’s chief judge, Mr. Shahroudi proclaimed: “I have inherited an utter ruin from the previous judiciary.” And as I read the report of the young boy whose punishment was to be dressed as a woman in public, I could not help but wonder about that which has actually taken the place of the “ruin” inherited by Mr. Shahroudi, since in order to punish criminals, the very judges whom Mr. Shahroudi oversees, take no issue with insulting 35 million Iranian women who live in this country.
Let us put aside, for the moment, why Iranian officials would even arrest a youth who rebels against their rules of conduct, and imprison him on charges of “lewdness;” or, instead of granting him a trial and issuing an appropriate punishment for his so-called crime, they parade him around town in women’s attire. This is my question to you, sir: Was the judge who ordered this young man to be dressed in women’s attire and be paraded around town himself present to see the look of horror and astonishment in the eyes of the women and young girls who were subjected to watch their own existence be ridiculed, degraded, and mocked by their government? Do you understand that the first question that popped into the minds of those girls was “what, exactly, is my crime for having been born a female?” Why is being a female a crime, an insult, an existential humiliation that even our clothing is equated with such degradation? Do you understand that the women and girls who watched this degrading episode never once even thought about the crime for which that young boy was being punished? For it was their own existence, their own self-worth, and their own lives that were being mocked, degraded, punished, and ridiculed!
Mr. Shahroudi, was it not you who steadfastly proclaimed that the rights of all citizens must be respected? Was it not you who said that, in our country, we do not have first class citizens versus second class citizens? What has now happened that the system, of which you are the leader, considers the mere existence of a woman an insult that is worthy of such mockery?
Throughout history, Iranian women have proven that they are ready and willing to endure any retribution in their effort to gain their due rights and have those rights respected, but they will not allow anyone to make a mockery of them. Iranian women have fought long and hard for their God-given rights; they have struggled and have reached the highest educational and academic levels in our country, the most prominent evidence of which is the fact that 60% of Iranian college students are females.
Furthermore, a vast number of specialists and influential figures of our nation are comprised of women and young girls – the same ones who, despite being deprived of the legal rights granted to men, such as the right to Diyeh, the right to have their testimony in court valued equally to those of their male counterparts, or even the right to have custodial rights of their own children-- they have remained steadfast in proving that they have the power, the intelligence, and the valor to compete with any man in any field.
Mr. Shahroudi, although you, as everyone else, are fully cognizant of the fact that Iranian women are the most educated women in the Middle East, you continue to permit your judges to mock even their clothing with such revulsion. Let us not forget that the same women who are mocked by your judicial system have sent their young children before bullets to defend their country, even though, they, themselves, were stripped of the right to defend their country on their own. THESE are the women, sir, whose clothing is even considered to be the subject of ridicule and degradation by your judges.
May I remind you, once again, that, many of the individuals whom your judges consider to be “the weaker sex” have received international prizes and accolades in competitions with non-Iranians around the world? They are the same women whom your judiciary detests and treats as “the second sex” when it should praise them with the highest of honors, respect, and regards.
Mr. Shahroudi, no one is confused by your statement that, for many years, Iranian women have fought for what are their basic rights; they struggle and they even pay an astonishingly hefty price for their objections to the mistreatments to which they are continuously subjected. These brave women do not even fear imprisonment. They have proven that they will NEVER beg for anyone’s respect, yet they will hold their society responsible for respecting their rights – something for which neither you, nor your judiciary has provided any form of support whatsoever.
Mr. Shahroudi, what is your answer to the heart-wrenching questions of the young girls who witnessed their sex mocked, ridiculed, degraded, and insulted by your system when a criminal’s punishment was to be parraded around town as one of them (i.e. a female)?!
Given such deplorable systematic acts, there is no reason then that we should expect that men such as Sharif stone their 14 year old daughters to death in the so-called act of “honor killing;” for those girls are, after all, “the second sex.” They do not need to be provided with fair trials, due process, or even heard. Likewise, there is no reason that we should expect that Iranian women can enjoy any form of security in their own homes, or experience “life,” in the true meaning of the word; for they are treated with a different set of rules and laws than those that govern the lives and conduct of men: Their lives are ruled by a state-mandated system of slavery.
Mr. Shahroudi, as a woman and a citizen, I hereby present to you my complaint regarding the judge who ordered such an ugly sentence for this young man. Although I conducted a through search of the legal standards and provisions, I could not find any laws that mandate such a punishment. As such, I present you with an important question. In the system of which you are the chief judge, “woman” is considered to be the second sex. Please do not tell me that you did not know about this. Please do not say that the judge made a mistake in issuing such a sentence. Please do not claim that this news is incorrect. Please do not claim that you will investigate the matter. Just say why it is that, in the 21st Century, you condemn women and girls to graves?

P.S. I wrote this for Etemaad newspaper, but it was never allowed to be published.