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A Victory for Rich Iranian Bigamists
Big love in Tehran, courtesy of President Ahmedinejad.
In addition to just demonstrating, Iranian women are finding other ways to defend their rights. For example, one of their concerns is that if divorced, the husband could convince the court not to pay them anything. To resolve that issue, many girls have upped the compensation they would get from a man in case they divorce. The level is measured in the number of gold coins promised as dowry to a bride in a prenuptial agreement.
Until five years ago, 100 to 200 gold coins was the going prenuptial rate for girls from middle-class families. Nowadays, there are reports from Iran, especially Tehran, that this rate has jumped to 600. Even 1,000 coins has been heard of.
According to an article in BBC Persian, this has raised alarm bells for the Iranian government, for a number of reasons. One is that the government sees that marriage, which has been a sanctified Iranian tradition, is “turning into an economic project,” as stated by Ahmadinejad’s vice president, Gholam Hossein Elham. This was also making life for some Iranian men very difficult. In some cases, after getting married, the man would realize that he is not a good match with his wife. But he is not able to divorce her, as he cannot afford to pay the prenuptial agreement. And this is something no one can escape from. In March of this year, one divorcing husband was ordered by a court to buy 124,000 roses for his wife, as per their prenuptial agreement. Not everyone can afford this. So it is a choice of staying in an unhappy marriage or going to jail.
Meanwhile, some single guys heard such stories and decided to stay away from marriage altogether, or to postpone it for as long as possible, until they could afford it. But not everyone wants to stay single until they are older. Therefore, in order to resolve their romantic aspirations, more young guys are opting for temporary marriages, called sighe in Farsi. Such temporary marriages, which could last anywhere from two hours to 99 years, have to be sanctified by a Shiite clergy to be recognized. The rates at which some girls agree to such marriages are much lower. One can even use the Internet to find sighe, thus making this a more comfortable temporary solution, until such times that they can afford to get married.
To resolve the decreasing number of people from poorer classes who wish to get married, the government is planning a new maximum tax-free limit for prenuptial agreements. Any figure above that will be taxable. In this way it aims to deter couples from agreeing to what it sees as exorbitant prenuptial figures. Also, by reducing the financial burden, the government of Ahmadinejad hopes that Iranian men will be less scared of getting married. Whether it will succeed is another matter.
So while the world frets about Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, upper-class Iranian bigamists are coming up with new ways to “enrich” the number of their female companions. And much like the nuclear program, outside authorities seem powerless to stop them. However, all hope is not lost. There is one great difference here. The opposition, in the form of Iran’s women, has most probably gotten its own array of “tough” and “comprehensive” sanctions, and unlike the UN, is far more willing to impose them.
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Meir Javedanfar is the co-author with Yossi Melman of The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran. He runs Middle East Economic and Political Analysis (MEEPAS).
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7 Comments
1. Gringo:So instead of helping the poor, as he repeatedly promises, Ahmadinejad and his government are giving more power to the rich.
Precisely. Polygamy gives power to rich men and takes it away from poor men.
Sep 3, 2008 - 7:27 am 2. Sidney Raphael:According to Spencer, the fascinating columnist at Asia Times, Iranian women are becoming prostitutes in record numbers. He reports Iranian women are becoming a staple in the worldwide prostitution market because of their poor prospects in Iran. I wonder if this phenomenon explains the desire of some in the government to keep wore women in Iran by allowing the rich to marry more of them.
Sep 3, 2008 - 8:46 am 3. Ahmadinejad loves rich bigamists « Blogging for a free world:[...] Pajamas Media » A Victory for Rich Iranian Bigamists [...]
Sep 3, 2008 - 9:32 am 4. dave472:After a meeting with reformers, the bill has been removed from consideration by the Majlis:
“Yesterday, the Majlis removed the family support bill from its agenda. The bill that has been removed from the agenda of the Majlis had given rise to a great deal of controversy. Even the Majlis Speaker in his speech had called on the MPs to study the bill with greater care in view of the concerns that had been expressed about it… In the same connection, on Saturday [presumably 30th August 2008] there was a common meeting with the participation of reformist activists in the Parties House. In that meeting, reformers had called for the recall of the bill, while the principle-ists had called for some amendments in some parts of that bill.
In this connection, Ayatollah [Yusef] Sane’i, who is one of the leading sources of emulation, believes that marrying a second wife without the agreement of the first one is Haram [religiously forbidden]. In his web site, he has written:
- “In my view, a second marriage without the agreement of the first wife is Haram and is a sin, and it is a religious offence. If after having married a second wife, the first wife does not express her agreement with it, the second marriage would be legally invalid.
- A second marriage by a man without the agreement of the first wife is contrary to the principle of living in goodness and piety [Ma'ruf, in keeping with what is prescribed]. It is also contrary to the concept of justice that the Koran has prescribed as a condition for a second marriage.
- While expressing my regret about some bills (that permit a man to marry again without the agreement of his first wife), I hope that the esteemed Majlis deputies would not approve such bills. I always pray that such a decision that is oppressive and is contrary to justice regarding women will not be made into law.
- Although at some times and among some tribes the issue of multiple wives [polygamy] has been customary, has been practised and has been accepted by women, nevertheless, as today this would make women unhappy engaging in it requires the permission of the first wife. In fact, marrying a second wife is a decision that is in the hands of the first wife, and this is in keeping with justice.
- God forbid, by passing this law the Majlis should not add another problem to the existing problems, especially to the problems faced by women.
- Husbands and wives are the source of comfort and security for one another, and the rights that husbands have vis-a-vis their wives are in return for the rights that wives have vis-a-vis their husbands, because basically rights must be mutual. If one side has certain rights vis-a-vis another person, while the other person is deprived of those rights, this would be contrary to justice.”
BBC Monitoring International Reports
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:20 am 5. dave472:September 2, 2008 Tuesday
IRAN MAJLIS REMOVES FAMILY SUPPORT BILL DEALING WITH POLYGAMY FROM AGENDA
“There have even been cases of women being stoned for adultery.”
-Javedanfar
In 2002, judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi issued a directive that imposed a moratorium on stoning. Since then the only stoning carried out has been on Jafar Kiani, as the linked article from the story above points out. Jafar is a male. The only stoning carried out in the last 6 years has been of a male. Jafar’s wife was also in jail on adultery charges. She has since been released:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2008/March/middleeast_March273.xml§ion=middleeast
Going beyond Ayatollah Shahroudi’s directive, last month Iran’s judiciary submitted draft legislation to end the practice of stoning:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iZ7aTbPW-vzYtgdxmx1O5Iok-CMQ
Sep 4, 2008 - 8:08 am 6. dave472:“If a woman leaves her husband, she is likely to lose her children.”
-Javedanfar
Upon divorce, a women is given custody of both males and females up until the age of 7, upon which custody reverts to the father:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2003/11/30/1000222.htm
Before the revolution, divorce issues were covered under the 1967 Family Protection Law. After the revolution, women’s rights declined. However, due to reforms initiated by women activists, women’s divorce rights have improved to the point where they have “went beyond [the Family Protection Law] in respect to protecting the position of women either threatened by, or wishing to obtain, a divorce.”:
“More important to women’s everyday life was the 1967 Family Protection Law. With that measure, initiation of divorce became available to women as well as to men and any divorce had to be registered by the state…In fact, women’s unhappiness with the new legal regime’s lack of congruence with their domestic lives, and their complaints and resistance, led to amelioration of the law’s consequences through procedural modifications. Among the changes they achieved were limitations on the husband’s power of unilateral divorce, now subject to the consent of the court to be granted after the matter was referred to mediation; expansion of the grounds on and means by which they could initiate divorce themselves; expanded rights to child custody, and additional forms of compensation upon divorce, including up to half the earnings of the marriage as well as wages for unpaid home labor undertaken during the course of the marriage. In sum, these changes amounted not simply to a return to the substance of the [Family Protection Law], but went beyond it in respect to protecting the position of women either threatened by, or wishing to obtain, a divorce.”
Buffalo Law Review, January, 2007, 54 Buffalo L. Rev. 1137
Article: Law, Authority, and Gender in Post-Revolutionary Iran
NAME: Louise Halper +
So divorce rights in Iran are not what most would like to see, but they are better now than they were under the Shah, when Iran was our ally. One women is even suing to try and divorce her husband because he smells:
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?ArchiveNews=Yes&NewsCode=30137&NewsKind=CurrentAffairs
Sep 4, 2008 - 1:18 pm 7. Rotten Gods:See supreme leader,
Iranian Polygamist parliament members slowed it down
Sep 6, 2008 - 8:46 am