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During the reign of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi there was no political freedom for the simple reason that Iran was then an old style monarchy, however, the shah provided most personal freedoms in other areas.

There was freedom of religious observance. Women weren't forced to wear head-coverings or to observe other religious duties. The government did not execute Muslims for conversions to other faiths and Iranians were free to practice their ancient Persian traditions. The arts were flourishing, people were free to dance in public , they could play and listen to any kind of music they wanted.

All these freedoms finished with Islamic revolution of 1978. It was a blood bath. My husband was a teenager when this events took place. His family home was not very far from the center of fighting in Tehran. Their home soon became a make-shift hospital for wounded and snipers were shooting people from their roof. Some of his family members were murdered because they were part of Shah's army.

The people of Iran suddenly found themselves living in a very different country. The new regime promised freedom and prosperity ,but delivered the very opposite. All personal freedoms were taken away, no one was speared.

Non-Muslim Iranians became worst than second class citizens, their properties were confiscated, all Christian missionaries were ordered to leave the country and all Muslim converts were facing two choices:recant or die.

Women lost all their rights and became the property of their husbands. The clergy abused widows of men who died in war with Iraq by giving them to anyone in temporal marriage(sometimes just one hour!)for a hefty payment to the priest or made them a part of their own harem. The same thing with young orphan girls who were forced to marry old men, often three times their age!

These abuses still continue to this very day. My husband and I used to help Iranian refugees, who are mostly women. One of them told us, she was arrested by police after someone reported her husband making anti-Islamic remarks and flogged her to blood. She saw there a young, pregnant woman who was caught wearing make-up. They have beaten her with rods until she went into shock.

Another woman we met fled Iran with her daughter because she wasn't able to divorce her husband. If she did that, she would have lost her daughter to him as the law in Iran always favors the man in family disputes.

People cannot celebrate with dance, singing and music, though they do that in hiding. Everything on TV and as much as possible even on the Internet is censored. Private telephones are bugged and private mail often read by the officials. Virtually no human rights are respected in Iran today and the reforms brought earlier are just an illusion of freedom that is simply not there.

Learn more about this author, Edyta Tehrani.
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