Numerous feminist Internet sites based abroad as
well as inside Iran provide a plethora of informa-
tion, feminist literature, and solidarity. The award-
ing of the Nobel Peace Prize to Shirin Ebadi, an
Iranian human rights and feminist activist, further
emboldened Iranian feminists inside Iran and
cemented their relationships with Iranian feminist
activists abroad.
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J. Afary, The Iranian constitutional revolution, 1906–
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J. W. Limbert, Iran. At war with history, Boulder, Colo.
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Masoud KazemzadehSouth AsiaThe issue of freedom of religious expression has
acquired increasing significance in the context of
South Asia in light of the rise of right-wing move-
ments and their attack on religious minorities.
Hateful writings and speeches played a role in
political events such as the destruction of the Babri
Masjid in Ayodhya in December 1992; the vituper-
ative and vitriolic speeches and writings of the
Hindu Right against the Muslim community in
1992 and 1993 framed the context within which
the Bombay riots took place in September 1992
and January 1993; and the fatwa issued against
Taslima Nasreen in May 1994 represented a con-
test over who has the right to speak for whom.
The right to freedom of speech is guaranteed as a
fundamental right under article 19 of the Indian
constitution, article 39 of the Bangladesh consti-
tution, article 14 of the Sri Lankan constitution,
and article 19 of the Pakistan constitution. In each
south asia 179country, reasonable restrictions on the right to free
speech are permitted, for example, in the interests
of public order and decency. The penal codes in
each country also have provisions that prohibit
words or representations that promote disharmony
or enmity between different religious, caste, or racial
communities, between language or regional groups,
or that deliberately outrage the religious feelings of
any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.
The codes also have provisions against obscenity
and affront of a woman’s modesty. Many court
decisions indicate that the legal provisions against
hateful speech have been primarily used to protect
minority religious groups from various attacks on
their religion and religious beliefs. Most prosecu-
tions have involved quite vicious and outrageous
attacks on the religious beliefs or practices of the
concerned community. However, the increasingly
overt religious climate and rise of right-wing pol-
itics have led to the erosion of the rights to free
speech and expression of women and religious
minorities.india
In India, the Hindu Right is increasingly success-
ful in promoting the perception of the persecution
of the majority by the minority and asserting itself
as the spokesperson for what constitutes Hindu
culture, religion, and history. It has promoted its
agenda partly through the right to free expression,
while simultaneously attacking the right of anyone
who dissents from or challenges its agenda.
In the context of Muslim women, the Hindu
Right avails every opportunity to denounce the
Muslim community because of the way it treats
women. They invoke their free speech rights to
report any atrocity or indignity committed against
Muslim women, whether within the Muslim com-
munity in India or within the surrounding Muslim
countries. For example, the Hindu Right took up
the cause of Taslima Nasreen, in the fatwa contro-
versy that emerged around this Bangladeshi writer.
The fatwa was issued in September 1993, after the
publication of her novel, Lajja, a story of the plight
of a Hindu family in Bangladesh persecuted in the
aftermath of the destruction of the Babri Masjid in
December 1992. In a newspaper interview in May
1994, Nasreen called for a reform of religious texts
that oppress women and the fatwa was reasserted.
Facing protests and calls for Nasreen’s death, the
Bangladeshi government charged Nasreen with
blasphemy. Nasreen fled the country to live in exile.
In this controversy, the Hindu Right positioned
itself as the defender of free speech from the threat