I. Xavire, My experience with police violence as an ISA
detainee, 1 May 2001, <http://dfn.org/voices/malaysia/
isatestimony.htm>.Nadirsyah HosenIran and Afghanistaniran
Long-term prisons in Iran were established in the
twentieth century. The replacement of corporal
punishment with prolonged incarceration was part
of the modernization process in which the tradi-
tional dual judicial system of Sharì≠a (religious)
courts and ≠urf(secular) courts was being trans-
formed into a uniform one. Yet some components
ascribed to modernity go back to the unique case of
Qurrat al-≠Ayn, a woman leader of the Bàbìmove-
ment in the final phase of medieval judiciary under
Nàßir al-Dìn Shàh (r. 1848–96). She was the only
one in the Bàbìprocesses (1264–8/1848–52) to be
condemned to lifelong imprisonment. The review
procedure in 1268/1852 sentenced her to execu-
tion, which was non-public, unlike those of other
Bàbìs. She was also the first woman executed for
“sowing corruption on earth” (there was no death
sentence for women in either Sharì≠a or ≠urf, except
for adultery).The Constitutional Revolution
1905–9 and the Pahlavìperiod
(1920–79)
Regular imprisonment of women came into
being just before women were granted constitu-
tional rights. The judicial reform by Reza Khan in
the early 1920s, however, cut away the power of
the Sharì≠a and spared women the death penalty. In
some cases women used this advantage to protect
their male relatives from the death penalty. They
took the blame for murder or drug dealing upon
themselves and went to prison with the tacit
approval of judges. However, the discrimination
against women in the penal code concerning moral
issues such as adultery made women vulnerable to
sexual abuse by the police and jail staff.
In the most famous modern prison, Qaßr, built
1920–25, a separate women’s section was planned.
In actual fact, women’s prisons were merely the
most underprivileged sections in men’s prisons.
With the reforms of Mohammad Reza Shah
(r. 1941–79) in the 1960s and 1970s, women were
recruited into the police force and trained as wards
for women detainees. But this did not lead to a
reduction of sexual abuse of female prisoners. The
death penalty now also applied to women.432 law: enforcement
The lack of attention paid to the particular needs
of women such as pregnancy care, childcare, and
similar matters, often resulted in the demoraliza-
tion of women. Mothers were also blackmailed for
political reasons.The Islamic Republic of Iran 1979
The prisons with all-black-veiled inmates are the
incarnation of the regime’s Islamization program.
As supposed “rehabilitation centers” they purport
to transform “deviants” into proper human beings
(àdam). As victims of double persecution female
prisoners are forcibly uniformed in black chador in
conformity with their female guards and become
part of the Islamic media representation, whether
they recant or not, whether they are Islamic or laic,
Muslim or non-Muslim. “Woman,” as defined in
the preamble of the constitution of the Islamic
Republic, is one of the pillars of the state, a category
between army and economy, and is therefore to be
converted into the subject of Islamic norm. The
Islamization of women became the raison d’être of
the wilàyat-i faqìh(governance of the religious
jurist, the all-embracing system of clerical rule in
the Islamic Republic). Islamic justice imposed rigid
social, moral, and behavioral codes on women.
From 1980 to 1985, ideological armed forces and
numerous paramilitary organizations such as basìj
arrested masses of women and girls for adultery,
prostitution, or simply unlawful contact with men.
Revolutionary Islamic courts condemned many to
execution and others to physical punishment or
imprisonment. As a consequence of the bloody
political repression the world public focused on
political prisoners but ignored the fate of ordinary
prisoners.
After the defeat of the political opposition in
Iran, the ™ijàbbecame the main reason for mass
persecution. The plan to combat immorality and
improper ™ijàb(bad™ijàb) of 1990 and the plan for
the superior ™ijàb(†ar™-i ™ijàb-i bartar) of 1994
resulted in massive detentions. In the following
years many female street children were imprisoned.
Some girls were put in prison for undefined offenses
such as running away or wearing boy’s attire.afghanistan
After British rule ended in 1919, Afghanistan
underwent several reform programs: the constitu-
tion of 1923 (Amàn Allàh Khàn); the constitution
of 1931 (Mu™ammad Nàdir Shàh); the modernist
reform of 1953 (Mu™ammad Dàwùd Khàn); and
the constitution of 1964 (æahìr Shàh), which
sought the way to the modern world. The first
“public” arena opened to women and girls during