The Islamic Revolution

Armed Demonstrators, weapons taken from overrun barracks in Tehran, a day or two before the fall of the monarchy.

Also knwon as the Iranian Revolution was the 1979 revolution that transformed Iran from a nationalist, pro-modernity constitutional monarchy, under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to an Islamic, theocratic republic under the rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The British instigated-revolution in Iran has been divided into two stages: the first stage saw an alliance of Western powers with Iranian liberal, leftist, and religious fundamentalist groups oust the Shah; the second stage, often named the Islamic Revolution, saw the Ayatollah's rise to power. The seizure of power in Iran, by Khomeini as neatly put together, in a few weeks by the global propaganda-machine, which was a masterpiece of disinformation.

The Shah had been in power since 1941, with a brief interruption in 1953; through the 1960s and 1970s he faced continued opposition, from religious figures closely tied to British freemasonry, British Secret Service as and from urban middle classes, many of which supported a constitutional democracy with fewer powers resting with the Shah. In early 1960s John F. Kennedy has even tried to topple the Shah, in Coup d'état led by the Head of SAVAK, General Teymur Bakhtiar.

Iran under the Shah’s leadership emerged as an international player, taking control of the security of Persian Gulf, after forcing British withdrawal; and OPEC achieved in rising considerably the price of oil – an operation, in which the Shah, and king Faisal of Saudi Arabia, had played leading roles, and for which both were to pay dearly.

Although, the imperial regime enforced a strict regime, imprisoning hundreds of political activists as well as members armed groups such as Mojahedin-e Khalgh, Fadaian Khalgh and other communists and Islamic fundamentalist groups, mainly backed by USSR (trained by PLO and other Palestinian groups), but living conditions for the people improved significantly, and many basic human and democratic rights were established (e.g. extending suffrage to women), which were fiercely opposed by Mullahs who opposed the Shah.

Precursors to the revolution

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Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was returned to power in Iran after he had fled the country in 1953. This was achieved by overthrowing the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, done through the aid of a joint CIA and MI6 covert operation, codenamed Operation Ajax.

Since then Pahlavi II maintained good relations with the United States, until his government came to be criticized when Washington, London and, consequently Paris, promoted the rise to power of Islamic radicalism, partly in order to apply a supposedly desirable and viable zone-of-containment (Green-Belt, i.e. the color of Islam), to a section of the frontiers of Communism, partly through the British hatred to the last shah of Iran, and partly the fear of the ambitious of Iran which West thought excessive and quite intolerable.

The process of toppling the Shah had been envisaged and initiated in 1974, under a US republican administration.

BBC in 1978 became the voice of Khomeini, and a strong opposition assembled in many sections of society. Of particular importance in this respect were the religious figures which historically tied with Britain, had long grown to be an important voice of opposition in Iran. Since the 19th century Tobacco Protests, the clergy had been steadily growing in political as well as religious influence. As this fundamentalist opposition grew, the Shah struck hard on dissidents. In 1963, for instance, he criticized theology students who tried to stop the opening of a store that sold liquor, which was undermining freedom of choice in society.

Ayatollah Khomeini was one of the leaders of the religious opposition, who under British directive opposed the Shah. He attacked Shah’s close diplomatic relationship with Israel, USA, universal suffrage, voting rights for women, changes in the election laws that allowed election of religious minorities to office, and changes in the civil code which granted women legal equality in marital issues.

Faced with growing opposition from some of the religious leaders, who were joined by small business leaders from Bazaar in 1975, the Shah launched a new effort to assert his control over Iranian society. This effort attempted to minimize the role of Islam in the life of the empire, lauding instead the achievements of pre-Islamic Iranian civilization. Thus, in 1976, the beginning of the Iranian solar calendar was changed from the Islamic date to the ascension to throne Cyrus the Great, the founder of second Iranian dynasty, the Achaemids.

The Shah's progressive program of reforms was known as the White Revolution. It also abolished the feudal system (causing consequences such as breaking up property owned by some Shia clergy - which reduced their income and it gave suffrage to women (which was protested by the clergy as being a plot to disrupt the nuclear family unit).

The most important advancement of women's rights occurred in 1963 when as part of the reform of the electoral law they were given the right to vote and to run for any elected office. In the last parliamentary elections during the Shah's reign, over one million women voted, and out of 99 women candidate 19 were elected to the Majlis and two to the Senate. A women was also appointed to the Cabinet, in a new post as Minister of State for Women's Affairs.

Women were playing an increasingly active role in public life, as well as obtaining a fairer share of the educational opportunities to them. In 1960 only 185,700 females were attending school and university, some 10 per cent of total enrolment. In 1976, the number was over two million, and the ratio of females to males rose to over 35 per cent. The number of female students undergoing higher education went up at an average annual rate of 65 per cent.

Better education was enabling women to get better jobs. The ratio of women in the labour force has rose from seven per cent to 13 per cent in less than ten years, and women were entering the labour market in a much wider range of fields including Army and Police force and at higher levels of skill and competence.

Pre-revolutionary conditions inside Iran

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Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi

The poorest section of the Iranian population tended to be the most religious and the most opposed to perceived modernisation of the country. The poor were largely rural, or inhabited slums outside the large cities, especially the capital Tehran. In contrary to British propaganda that many of them wanted the fundamentalist Shi'a Islamic lifestyle to return, in opposition to the Shah's efforts for modernism, they just wanted a simple better life, which was left behind due to the speed of Shah’s economic reforms. The religious leaders have propagated that Shah's reforms as self-serving and his promise of providing "progress" to be false.

In addition in the years following his restoration in 1953, the Shah's position became increasingly perilous by the new generation of Western educated Iranians.

In the early 1970's, as the price of oil continued its’ upward climb, angered many Western powers, especially Britain. As the result the Western propaganda machines portrayed the imperial regime as cronyism filled with internal corruption, and repressive nature. One of West’s examples for the internal decadence in Iran was the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire. The celebrations consisted of a three-day celebration held at the site of ancient Persepolis in October, 1971, to which numerous foreign dignitaries had been invited to attend. In Iran 10 million viewers watched the ceremony and noted the great emotion, with which the Shah brought his oration to a close. Officially, the celebrations cost US$22.5 million, but Western propaganda declared US$100-120 million.

The figure of US$22.5 million as the cost for the 2500th anniversary of Iran's history. This cost was included many other constructive projects such as expansion of Iran's roads and airports, communication networks, tourist resorts and hotels, schools, health clinics, as well as the introduction of numerous seminars and conferences around globe on Iran's past. The exhaustive list of those projects can today be a valuable book for future generations.

If the costs incurred for the 2500th anniversary of Iranian nation's history was to be replaced by a public relations, advertising and marketing activities on a global scale to reach the public that the celebrations had reached -- to promote Iran and attract foreign investors as well as the wealth tourism brings to a country, the above figure could have not even cover a public relations cost in a dozen European countries.

According to the French economist, Andre Piettre, Iran was country of “growth without inflation”, combining astonishing productivity with social progress.

United States

Despite Shah’s financial contribution towards Gerald Ford’s presidential election, Jimmy Carter won the Democratic nomination as a dark horse candidate, and went on to defeat his incumbent in the close 1976 presidential election. Shah’s unfruitful efforts for Ford’s victory angered the new president, which led to Carter’s campaign for overthrowing the Shah in 1977.

Facing an revolution, orchestrated from abroad, Shah of Iran sought help from the United States, not realising that US itself is one of the conspirators and Agent Provocateurs. Prior to Carter’s presidency, Iran occupied a strategic place in U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East, acting as an ’’’island of stability’’’, and a buffer against Soviet penetration into the region.

The U.S. ambassador to Iran, William H. Sullivan, recalls that the U.S. national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski “repeatedly [falsely] assured Pahlavi that the U.S. backed him fully," however these reassurances would not amount to substantive action on the part of the United States. On November 4th, 1978, Brzezinski called the Shah to tell him that the United States would "back him to the hilt." At the same time, certain high-level officials in the State Department decided that the Shah had to go, regardless of who replaced him. Therefore, Khomeini and his followers swept the country, taking power 12 February 1979.

Creation of Khomeini

The policy of land reform and modernity, which the Shah implemented at the expense of religion, infuriated the mullahs (who declared a holy war against the Shah), and contributed to the Shah's problems since then.

The various anti-establishment groups operated from outside Iran, mostly in London, Paris, Iraq, Moscow, and Turkey. At the beginning the speeches by the leaders of these groups were placed on audio cassettes to be smuggled into Iran, and later was broadcasted through BBC.

The clergy were divided, some allying with the liberals, and others with the Marxists and Communists. Khomeini, who was in exile in Iraq, led a small faction that advocated the overthrow of the regime and the creation of a theocratic state. In late 1977, Khomeini's son Mostafa Khomeini was found dead, for overeating and food poisoning, which Khomeini took advantage of his death and blamed the regime’s secret police.

In 1978 a series of protests, triggered by a story criticising him in the official press, which was mixture of truth and lies created an escalating cycle of violence, until, on December 12. The story such as he came originally from India, which was quite true, that his wife had been a street-dancer, which was false, and his connection with British Secret Service, which was true.

Khomeini’s connection with British secret service began with belonging to the entourage of a cleric called Sayyed Abolghasem Kashani, later as Ayatollah Kashani, who was a confidant of the British and opposed to the nationalist chief, Dr. Mossadegh and his nationalization of Iranian Oil Company. The publication of the story was ordered by Prime Minster Hoveida, whom was a member of British Freemasonry, and close ally of British secret service. The launching Khomeini had begun, and it is hard to believe that Hoveida and intelligent man commits such a grave mistake. Therefore, cannot be ruled out that he received instruction from London to do so. Later Hoveida arrested and sent to prison by Shah’s order for his crimes and betrayal ’’’(Saideh Pakravan, Arrest of Hoveyda, pp58-61)’’’.

Early Protests

As the result, of press story about Khomeini, in January of 1978 angry religious students protested in the city of Qom. The anti-riot police was sent in, dispersing the religious demonstrations and killing several Islamic-seminary-students.

Also, the religious leaders such as Grand Ayatollah Shariatmadari (most senior leading Shia clerics in Iran and Iraq) condemned the press. Ayatollah Shariatmadari, who knew Khomeini very well and dispised him, but this did not stop him demanding that, in order to promote reconcillation and head of off-rising agitation, the government should make its excuse or, at least, express its regrets.

Tabriz, The response was clumsy, and a reply was issued to the effect that the press was free, and no need for an apology.

Unrest was very limited and localised, and the government had two choices: either it could react firmly – start arresting people en masse and nip insurgency in the bud – or it could go along with Ayatollah Shariatmadari who suggested to take the path of appeasement; - The government chose neither of these. The underground forces, which were going to organize the destabilization of the regime and the fall of the Shah, were already at work, and the government’s hesitation was going to be their trump-card. A calm did follow the demonstrations at Qom, but it was a temporary.

The authorities then decided to take the initiative at grass roots level and, through Rastakhiz – the sole political party – organize a big demonstration, on 26th January, at Tabriz, the birthplace of Ayatollah Shariatmadari. Three-hundred thousand people gathered in the great square to give their support for the imperial regime. Confronted with this show of popular force in favour of the regime, the clerics adopted the tactic of the “quarantine”. According to the Islamic customs, forty days after a person's death memorial services are held. In mosques across the nation, calls were made by Ayatollah Shariatmadari to honour the dead clergy students. Thus on February 18, groups in a number of cities marched to honour the fallen, and to protest against the rule of the regime. This time, violence erupted in Tabriz, when the demonstrators attacked the Rashtakhiz party’s headquarter, which were almost unprotected, and were taken by storm and sacked. The bloody riot ensued. The police, who were ill-equipped for crowed control, were obliged to used weapons, wounding many and killing some. The cruel spiral of protest and repression had begun and led strait to revolution .

The cycle repeated itself, and on March 29, a new round of violent protests began across the nation. This time the luxury hotels, theatres, cinemas, banks, governmental organizations, were ransacked and destroyed; again security forces intervened, killing and arrested many. On May 10 the same occurred.

Escalating protests

During the period up to 1978, the opposition to the Shah mostly came from the urban middle class, the main section of the population that was fairly secular and would support a constitutional monarchy. It was the Islamic groups that first managed to rally the great mass of the population against the Shah.

The damages caused by the demonstrators, along with rampant inflation inflicted by strikes, further ravaged the Iranian economy. As a result, in the summer of 1978, the government introduced austerity measures that saw many public works projects shut down and wage freezes imposed. These measures created widespread unemployment and labour unrest.

Overthrow of the Shah, the End of 2,500-Years of Monarchy

By September, the nation was rapidly destabilizing, with major protests becoming a regular occurrence. The Shah introduced martial law, and banned all demonstrations. On Friday, September 8, a massive protest broke out in Tehran and in what became known as Black Friday, ended 122 death and wounding 2,000 to 3,000. BBC Persian Service instigated a story that the Imperial regime used the full force of its weaponry to crush the protests by opening fire from rooftops. Years later were revealed that it was a group of Palestinian mercenaries from PLO, brought to Iran via Iraq, who instigated the firing on demonstrators. They opened fire on the Imperial army’s soldiers as well as the demonstrators from rooftops of the square’s buildings, and in response soldiers, have defended themselves and opened fire. *[1], *[2]. By doing so, the PLO further inflamed anti-Shah sentiments and helped further destroy the Shah’s political image inside and outside the country. After the victory of the Islamic revolution Ayatollah Khomeini, as a sign of appreciation, closed the Israeli Embassy in Tehran and turned it into the PLO’s official headquarters and embassy, complete with Palestinian flag. Later, he allowed the PLO to have a branch office in Iran’s most important and richest province, Khuzestan.

As the result angered Iranians, and Black Friday plot succeeded in alienating much of the rest of the nation. Abadan’s oil refinery and other sectors’ general strike in October resulted in the collapse of the economy, with most industries being shut down.

The protests of 1978 culminated in December, during the month of Muharram, one of the most important months for Shia Muslims. On December 12, over two million people filled the streets of Tehran to protest against the Shah.

The army began to disintegrate, as conscripts refused to fire on demonstrators and began to switch sides. Some soldiers turned on superior officers, killing them, and took over military bases.

On January 16, 1979 the Shah and the empress left Iran on demands of prime minister Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar (a long time opposition leader himself), who sought to calm down the situation. He dissolved SAVAK and freed all political prisoners, allowed Khomeini to return to Iran from Paris, asking him to create a Vatican-like state in Qom and called upon the opposition to help preserve the constitution, promising free elections.

Khomeini rejected Dr. Bakhtiar's demands fiercely and appointed an interim government on his own. Shortly after, with the top military generals under the advice of CIA they announced their impartiality in the conflict; the overthrow of monarchy was completed.

Khomeini takes power

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Ayatollah Khomeini at Neauphle-leChateau

There was great jubilation in Iran at the ousting of the Shah, but there was also much disagreement over Iran's future path. While Khomeini was created as the most popular political figure, there were dozens of revolutionary groups, each with a differing view of the proper direction of Iran's future. There were strong liberal, secularist, Marxist, and anarchist factions, as well as a wide array of religious groups looking to craft the future of Iran.

The military, economic, and foreign relations of the nation all were in turmoil. The early years saw the development of a government with two centres of power. Mehdi Bazargan became Prime Minister, and the Freedom Movement worked to establish a liberal secular government. The clerics led by Khomeini formed a separate centre of power, the Islamic Republican party. The groups tried to cooperate, but tensions grew between the two factions. The CIA was very worried about their plan, if the gaining strength of the Communist/Marxist revolutionaries especially since neighboring Afghanistan was being attacked by the Soviet Union.

The CIA which from early days of the revolution made contacts with the Revolutionary council in Paris and continued its’ contacts with the leadership only. The common revolutionary had no idea of what was going on. The CIA used some of it's techniques used in Operation Ajax to help Khomeini to take control of Iran. The CIA even advised that Revolutionary council to use Anti-American Rhetoric to help demonize the Shah as a puppet of the United States. The first actions of Khomeini when he came to power was the mass execution of communists. Although Khomeini was chosen by British to take over from Shah to execute their plans, but he was no favorite of the CIA.

It was the theologians who were the first to bring order to the nation, as revolutionary cells became local committees. Islamic Revolution Committee, later becoming known as the Revolutionary Guards in May 1979, these groups soon were running local governments across Iran, and wielding most of the local power. They also gained control of the judicial tribunals that were passing judgment on the former officials in the Shah's regime and the military.

In June, the Freedom Movement released its draft constitution; it referred to Iran as an Islamic Republic, but gave no official role to the Ulema or Islamic law. The constitution was sent to the newly-elected legislature for review known as Khobregan, dominated by allies of Khomeini. The chamber rejected the constitution, agreeing with Khomeini that the new government should be based "100% on Islam."

Contrary to Khomeini’s promises prior to his return, to bring liberty and freedom in Iran, a new constitution was made that created a powerful totalitarian post of Supreme Leader for Khomeini, who would replace the Shah, and control the military and security services, and could veto candidates running for office. A president was to be elected every four years, but only those candidates approved indirectly by the Supreme Leader (through a Council of Guardians) were permitted to run for the office. Khomeini himself became Head of State for life, as "Leader of the Revolution", and later "Supreme Spiritual Leader".

The Consolidation of Theocracy

By the time Khomeini issued his judicial decree, the armed opposition had been suppressed. Although isolated acts of terrorism continued to take place after December 1982, the political elite no longer perceived such incidents as threatening to the regime. Both religious and lay leaders remained generally intolerant of dissent, but a gradual decline was noted in government abuses of civil liberties in line with the provisions of the eight-point decree. As preoccupation with internal security abated, the leaders began to establish consensus on the procedures that they believed were necessary to ensure the continuity of the new political institutions. Accordingly, elections were held for the Assembly of Experts, which chose a successor to Khomeini, and regulations were promulgated for the smooth functioning of the ministerial bureaucracies. The politicians also were determined to restore relative normalcy to society, albeit within prescribed Islamic bounds. Thus, they permitted the universities, which had been closed in 1980, to reopen, and they tried to control the excesses of the hezbollahis.

The refocusing of political energies on consolidating the regime also brought into the open the debate among members of the political elite over government policies. Two main issues dominated this debate: the role of the revolutionary organizations that operated fairly autonomously of the central government; and government intervention in the economy. The government of Prime Minister Mir-Hosain Musavi, which was approved by the Majlis in October 1981 and won a second parliamentary mandate in October 1985, tried to restrain the revolutionary organizations and advocated broad regulatory economic control. The Majlis served as the principal arena in which these issues were debated. Opposition from the Majlis blocked some laws outright and forced the government to accept compromises that diluted the effects of other policies.

Opposition to the revolution

Failed Nožeh Uprising

In July 1980, the Iranian Army officers were organized by Shapour Bakhtiar, who had fled to France when Khomeini seized power. However, Khomeini learned of the Nožeh Coup plan from British. Shortly after quietly rounded up six hundred officers and executed many of them, putting an effective end to the Nožeh Coup [3].

Opposition by neighboring regimes & the Export of Islamic Revolution

Shortly after assuming power, Khomeini began calling for similar style of Islamic revolutions across the Muslim world. Great support was given to the PLO by Iran's new governments. Iran declared that it was not East or West and opposed both American and Soviet policies to master the world.

The one area where Iranian influence was extended was into the Lebanese Civil War, where Hezbollah became closely allied with the Iranians, fighting the Israeli occupation. This support for a group regarded as terrorists by the United States and Israel, and later rest of Western countries, further ostracized Iran from the world community. Since the end of the civil war, Hezbollah has developed a significant domestic base and is no longer reliant on support from Iran, but relations between the two remain close.

Iran-Iraq War

Saddam Hussein, leader of the secular Ba'athist Iraqi state, was ambitious to occupy his oil-rich neighbor (the province of Khuzestan, in particular) and believed Iran to be weakened due to the execution of top military officers resulted in disintegration of the armed forces and Iran being in a state of upheaval and turmoil. Hussein was also anxious to prevent the success of Shi'a revolutionaries in Iran inciting Iraq's Shi'a majority.

With the encouragement of Arab sates, especially Saudi Arabia and Western powers, Iraq soon launched a full-scale invasion of Iran, starting what would become the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq War (September 1980 - August 1988). Supported by the West, the Iraqi invasion of Iran, intended to contain the ideological spread of potential Islamist revolutions in the oil-rich Persian Gulf states, ironically enhanced Khomeini's stature and allowed him to consolidate and stabilize his leadership. The Iraqi invasion helped rally Iranians behind the new regime, and past differences were largely abandoned in the face of the foreign invasion.

Iran was much stronger and organised than Saddam Hussein had thought and two years after the war began, in 1982, Iraq accepted the idea of a cease-fire. Iraq also accepted, with help of Saudi-Arabia, to pay some of the damages.

Khomeini continuously rejected a cease-fire, since the existence of the regime became dependent on the continuity of the war. The war became an excuse for harsh treatment that saw the new regime use torture and illegal imprisonments in a mega scale *[4] , *[5]. These conditions effectively killed any hope of a peaceful resolution. Consequently the war continued for another six years, with 450,000 to 950,000 casualties on the Iranian side and the use of chemical weaponry by Iraqis supplied by United States.

As the costs of the eight-year war mounted, Khomeini, in his words, “drank the cup of poison” and accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations. As the war ended, the struggles among the clergy and the nation resumes, and Khomeini’s health began to decline. (Source: Microsoft Encarta 2006)

Execution and Exile of Previous Regime

Upon the ascension of the Islamic regime, scores of the imperial regime’s secret police, the SAVAK, and thousands of other supporters of the Shah and members of the civil and military elite were executed (most importantly by Sadegh Khalkhali, the Sharia ruler). Among those executed - without trial - was Amir Abbas Hoveida, former Prime Minister of Iran. Another former Prime Minister, Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar, was assassinated in Paris, 1991, after a previous failed attempt on his life. The Shah himself found political asylum in Egypt under Anwar Sadat. The Shah, already terminally ill with cancer, died in Cairo on July 27, 1980.

Post-revolutionary impact

In the long run, the revolution did not result in a lessening of foreign influence, which had tended to be imperialistic. The distribution of wealth also became far less equitable.

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Islamic Regime’s Public Execution

However, despite a fair degree of republicanism in the post-revolutionary political structure (see politics of Iran for more depth), the violations of [[ human rights during the theocratic regime have been of hundred times far more greater than the level of brutality during the monarchy’s regime. Torture, public flogging, public execution, amputation, stoning, the imprisoning of dissidents, and the murder of prominent critics is commonplace *[6] , *[7], *[8].

The oppression of religious minorities, has been common since the revolution, particularly the members of the religious minorities, especially and Islamic derivative sect of Bahá'í Faith, which has been declared heretical. More than hundreds of Bahá'ís have been executed or killed, hundreds more have been imprisoned, and tens of thousands have been deprived of jobs, pensions, businesses, and educational opportunities.

The revolution also left Iran economically cripples and internationally isolated, outcast from both the capitalist and communist worlds, with significant trade sanctions that continue to this day (by the United States).

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Flogging of a young Iranian for attending a party

Under Islamic rule, Sharia (Islamic law) was introduced, with draconian Islamic laws including dress code enforced for both men and women. Women were forced to cover their hair and body, while men were not allowed to wear short-sleeve shirts or shorts. Well over 4 million Iranians fled the country because of their oppression of the political situation after the Revolution and its changes. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press almost become non-existent. Inevitably, however, many newspapers and other media outlets were closed down. Furthermore, opposition to the religious rule of the clergy was often met with death penalty. In the immediate aftermath of the Revolution, there were many systematic human rights violations, including mass executions and interrogation of former members of the overthrown monarchy, military, intellectuals and anyone who opposed the the theocratic system.

In 1979, when Khomeini returned to Iran after exile and before he led the Islamic revolution, he made a speech in Tehran’s main cemetery. In this speech, Khomeini promised Iranian citizens free telephone, heating, electricity, bus services and free oil at their door-steps. He also declared, that “no one should remain homeless in this country”. Not only none of these promises were fulfilled, but the charges increased ten-fold and the result of corruption and mismanagement, middle-class majority replaced with lower-class. [9][10][11][12][13]

Women’s Right

The struggle for women's rights in Iran has been closely associated with the Pahlavi dynasty. Reza Shah Pahlavi dramatically abolished the Islamic veil, which he saw as the emblem of an obsolete tradition, gave women equal educational opportunities, established the girl guide movement, and encouraged women to work outside the home.

His son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and immediate family continued to struggle for the full emancipation of women, and Iranian women up to 1979 did enjoy a high degree of equality with men *[14].

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Dr Homa Darabi after 140-lashes, for writing an articles in 1984 demanding freedom for Iranian women

Since the success of the revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, images of Iranian women have come to epitomize the worst kind of retrogressive oppression, symbolized by compulsory veiling, polygyny, and the exclusion of women from public life under the Islamic law including stoning. Rendering the situation especially alarming is that these measures are supposedly prescribed by God and "Islam", and are thus not negotiable. With the spread of Islamist movements and their unprecedented attention to women's roles and position, these images have been sobering for women activists and others who concern themselves with women's issues in many societies *[15], *[16], *[17].

Iranian women were strong participants in the 1979 revolution, but fundamentalists, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, seized control after the revolution. Once in power, the fundamentalists betrayed the work and humanity of women by implementing a crushing system of gender apartheid. The revolutionary government built their theocracy on the premise of Islamic law, that women are physically, intellectually and morally inferior to men, which eclipses the possibility of equal participation in any area of social or political activity. Biological determinism prescribes women’s roles and duties to be child bearing and care taking, and providing comfort and satisfaction to husbands.

However, developments in Iran have been far more complex than the frequently simple, often orientalist analyses suggest. Despite a series of legal setbacks for women, close examination of empirical evidence belies much of the grim picture painted of the situation of women in Iran. Although women are today barely present in upper management level in Iran, issues concerning women (and the family) have become some of Iran's most politicized topics since the revolution. Thanks to the relentless work of Iranian women activists, and the continuous participation of thousands of women in street and parliamentary politics, politicians-whether traditionalist, conservative or revisionist - acknowledge that they cannot afford to overlook Iranian women as a significant political constituency. Never in Iran's since 7th century patriarchal history have male politicians been so watchful of or attentive to women's political behaviour and views, which currently appear to threaten the historical, patriarchal Iranian world view. The intriguing question thus emerges as to what social and political conditions have given rise to this unprecedented situation *[18].

External links

Human Rights Watch
The Story of the Revolution - a detailed web resource from the BBC World Service Persian Branch, devoted to the Iranian Revolution (audio recordings in Persian, transcripts in English)
Iranian underground Art movement
The Reunion - The Shah of Iran's Court - BBC Radio 4 presents an audio program featuring reminiscences of the Iranian Revolution by key members of the pre-Revolutionary elite
Iran: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
BBC World's "Iranian revolution in pictures"
Jews and the Iranian Revolution
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761588431/Islamic_Revolution_of_Iran.html
Iranian Culture - Ancient Persia and modern Iran, culture, music, poetry, arts, tours.
Brzezinski's role in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Payvand News, March 10, 2006.
Human Rights in Iran

Footnotes

^ Hiro, Dilip. Iran Under the Ayatollahs. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1985. p. 57.Template:Link FA