Iranian state closes Iranian Women's magazine

international | gender and sexuality | other press

Tuesday January 29, 2008 10:14

by ribbid

"The licence of the magazine Zanan ('Women') managed by Shahla Sherkat has been cancelled as the monthly published articles undermining public confidence in law and order by leading people to believe that the Islamic republic was unsafe for women," the FARS news agency has reported citing an official it did not name.

Shahla Sherkat author, directing editor & founder of "Zanan" (="women") has told a handful of western news organisations that she has not been contacted by the Iranian state & learnt of the news herself on the FARS website. FARS is not the official Iranian news service (that's IRNA) but it seems quite likely. Her last monthly offering published a feature on gender violence & included a monthly toll.

Women & Crime in Iran.

The website is still up
http://www.zanan.co.ir/
The last edition on the site though is the November one http://www.zanan.co.ir/archives/November_2007.html
The magazine has been running for 16 years, & its editor & founder has been no stranger to controversy. I can't believe I actually typed such a cliché. Don't worry about it, clichés help you think its news. ".......Shahla Sherkat is considered a prime example of Islamic Iranian feminism. She has been accused of "offering a dark picture of the Islamic Republic through the pages of Zanan" and of "compromising the psyche and the mental health" of its readers by providing them with "morally questionable information."............."

They published stuff like articles on plastic surgery, mascara, lipstick, thrush, candida, itchy intimate bits, discharges & rape. You know - all kinds of rape. Marital rape, date rape, pre-marital rape, incestual rape & another type of rape you might think of.

Shahla Sherkat was sentanced to four months in prison back in 2001 along with a fine of 2 milion Tomans not for rape or mascara but for attending a conference in Berlin where neither rape nor the holocaust were mentioned but other stuff was.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Iran_After_the_Election...pants
Now you know what currency Iran uses, but until you put that in perspective it will be useless trivial data which will serve you little or mostly likely not at all. I can't bear the idea of you keeping that bit of information out of context burning your synapses for ages to come .The "Toman" hasn't been the currency of Iran about 1932 but just in the same way Irish rapists & rape victims still use the word quid despite us not having any, Iranians still use the word "Toman" for "ten rials". 1euro which if we get technical was a quid and a few shillings is worth 13,671.43 rials at time of writing. You do the math. She was fined 2 million tenners of rials so that's about 260,000euros which you'll agree is a lot of money &you could probably build a rape crises centre in Tehran with it. If there was any crises of course & need.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahla_Sherkat