The Women's Freedom Network Newsletter January/February, Vol. 8, No.1. HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST WOMEN IN IRAN The universal goal of the Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCR) is to fight violence against women. NCR calls for the collection of testimonies and eyewitness reports on crimes committed against women in Iranian prisons so that those who hold power in Tehran can be brought to justice by the international community.

T he recent publication of the memoirs of Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri (Montazeri) has shed light on more atrocities that have taken place in Iranian prisons against female prisoners. Before being ousted from his position, Montazeri was the designate-successor and heir apparent to Khomeini.

Montazeri, for over ten years, was privy to the innermost secrets of the state. He recounts stories of women who were part of the 30,000 political prisoners executed in the 1988 massacres. Some of these executions took place after the Iran-Iraq ceasefire. The executions were aimed at suppressing the potential spirit of resistance in society. But in doing so, the regime committed basic human rights violations for which they should be held responsible.

Montazeri reveals in his book some of the massive human rights violations that were committed against prisoners, even those who had finished their sentences. He describes young girls and women being systematically raped and tortured by prison guards and mercenaries. As a result of being tortured, a number of girls had to have their ovaries and uterus removed. These medical procedures were done without proper medical care. Executions were ordered for girls for petty charges, for example, when a girl broke the Ramadan fast.

Moreover, Montazeri's representatives report observing women being flogged with electric cables, kicked, dragged by a car, eating their own feces, housed in coffin-like cells, and burned with lighters, kerosene and petrol. It seems that the only survivors of this effort to suppress resistence to the Khomeini regime are those who became mentally deranged.