This article is written by Darya Safai in France published in Belgian daily Le Vif, translated by Iran Probe
Wednesday, 11 May 2016
In her visit to Iran, far from her native media, Belgian Senate Speaker Christine Defraigne from the RM Party made startling remarks about women’s rights, raising outrage amongst many and yet coming to the delight of the regime in Iran. State media in Iran published her remarks, seen below in part.
“In Belgium there is no gender equality in the parliament. It is even worse in the government cabinet,” she said. These were the remarks Defraigne made to Shahindokht Molaverdi, deputy of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s in women and family affairs. However, she failed to say a word about the millions of cases Iran’s police opens each year against women under the pretext of disobeying clothing regulations.
A few days prior to Defraigne’s visit, Iran’s “Morality Police” added 7,000 undercover agents to its force, responsible for “following” women who fail to abide by hijab regulations enshrined in Iran’s constitution.
This is not the only insult women are required to endure. In fact, the mullahs’ law has made it clear they are not to enjoy the same rights of men.
Women are banned from any education, work outside of their home or even travel without the permission of their husbands. They cannot divorce or seek custody of their own children. Women are only allocated half the will of men, and their testimony in court is considered half the value of that of a man. Girls can be married off at the age of 9 and from this age they are legally responsible for any crime (boys from the age of 15). Therefore, they can be sentenced to death and women convicted of adultery are stoned.
Instead of condemning the undeniable and widespread women’s rights violations in Iran, or at least making a quick reference to it, Christine Defraigne chose to criticize the status of women in Belgium.
“Women are facing difficulties everywhere. In our Senate we have prepared a report on supervising and implementing the Beijing plan objectives. Belgium still has much work to do so that women’s equality is not only a matter on paper,” she said.
Defraigne’s remarks were enormously welcomed by Iranian state media. Yet Iranian women were outraged, feeling foreign politicians provide more importance to economic relations with Iran than women’s rights. They feel forgotten. It is clear that the situation of women in Belgium can still be improved, yet it is incomparable to that of Iranian women. In fact, is this not another reason to neglect women’s rights violations in Iran? Such a perspective only provides consolation to the mullahs in Iran and strengthens Islamic extremists in their positions.
The scene of Defraigne’s meeting with Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign policy advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was even worse.
“The Islamic republic has a vast amount of intelligence and experience in the fight against terrorism, and plays an important role in stabilizing the region,” she said. Have we truly forgotten the Islamic republic has been the first real Shiite caliphate? Defraigne is even willing to receive guidance from Velayati in the war against terrorism.
“For 16 years you were at the helm of the Iranian Foreign Ministry. You can help resolve problems in the region, meaning Syria and Yemen,” she added.
Defraigne has clearly forgotten that Velayati himself was a condemned terrorist. In 2007 the Argentine prosecutors office issued an arrest warrant for him regarding his involvement in the 1994 AMEA Jewish center bombing in Buenos Aires that left 85 people killed. In 1997 a German court accused Velayati of being accomplice in the killing of a number Iranian dissidents in a Greek restaurant, known as the Mykonos murders. Following this ruling European Union members summoned their ambassadors from Iran. How can Defraigne actually praise this man?
During this meeting Velayati made it clear that maintaining Assad as president of Syria is red line for his country. Listen to Defraigne’s response.
“We are in line with Iran’s positions as far as the democratic government of Syria is concerned.” The question is how does Christine Defraigne define the word democracy?
Defraigne then went to meet her Iranian counterpart, Ali Larijani. According to local press reports Defraigne described Western liberal democracies as the roots of terrorism.
“We ask ourselves why do 2nd and 3rd generation youths of immigrant families born and raised in our countries end up fighting for Daesh (ISIS) in Syria?” she asks.
Defraigne also praised the recent Iranian parliamentary elections and said, “I congratulate Iran for holding this sound and fair election.” One can imagine the North Korean parliament speaker making such remarks, yet not the Belgian Senate Speaker who considers herself a Liberal.
The elections Defraigne was referring to has been dubbed as one of the least free elections held in the world in the past 37 years of the Islamic republic’s existence. All human rights organizations have correctly criticized these elections. Only candidates completely loyal to the mullahs’ regime “supreme leader” principle, and in fact believing in a Shiite caliphate, were permitted to participate. The final selection, described as a vetting, was carried out by a small number of hardline religious figures appointed by the supreme leader himself.
One must add that Ali Larijani’s chief of staff, Mohammad Jafar Sahraroudi, is accused of having a role in the 1989 murder of a number of Iranian dissidents in Vienna. There are reports of the U.S. military’s unsuccessful attempts to have him arrested in Erbil, Iraq, according to The Washington Post.
All Western politicians visiting Tehran make at least a few remarks about human rights violations in this country. But not Defraigne. She was successful in praising this regime for executing nearly 1,000 each year, and even criticizing her own country. Public opinion in Iran are currently thinking she prefers an Islamic state to a liberal democracy. To this day no Western politician has gone so far.
