- TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Married
at age 13 to a man 18 years her senior, Ferdows was the wife that Iranian
society expected her to be: obedient, and silent, despite the beatings
and humiliation.
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- But after 30 years of marriage, she had had enough. She
arranged to have her husband, Hedayat, killed, authorities say.
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- Ferdows, who has been convicted of murder and sentenced
to death, is one of at least 20 Tehran women accused of murdering their
husbands since February. Initially, the reports of the slayings were largely
unnoticed. That changed as the number rose and Iranians began to see the
killings as signs of social stresses.
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- "Husband killing is a new phenomenon in Iran's male-dominated
society. It means economic hardships and social crises are reaching a crisis
point," said Mohammad Ahmadi, a sociologist.
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- He cited a number of problems in Iranian society that
lead to frustration and desperation: forced marriages, philandering by
husbands, impotence, poverty and no healthy entertainment in a country
whose Islamic laws ban socializing between men and women who are not closely
related.
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- Others blame restrictive divorce laws that leave women
feeling murder is the only way out of a bad marriage.
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- In Ferdows case, she accused her husband of abuse.
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- "During 30 years of matrimonial life, Hedayat always
beat me. He was a doubter and skeptical of everything and didn't trust
me. He had made the life hell for me," Ferdows told authorities, who
have identified her only by her first name.
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- Ferdows paid a man the equivalent of $3,750 to stab her
husband to death three years ago, prosecutors said. The crime wasn't exposed
until this February, when police found her husband's remains in an abandoned
building. She had told people her husband abandoned her.
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- Both Ferdows and the hit man were convicted and sentenced
at a closed trial in April. Word of the outcome leaked out a few weeks
ago.
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- The punishment for women who murder their husbands is
death. Some have already been convicted and executed. Others are on death
row and some are awaiting trial. They come from all social classes.
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- "Divorce is the first solution for women to get
rid of an undesirable troubled life. But why did these women ignore this
option and resort to something that carries the death sentence?" asked
the monthly magazine Zanan (Women).
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- While Iranian men can divorce almost at will, a woman
who wants a divorce must go through a legal battle that can take up to
20 years, said lawyer Sara Irani. Even then, she said, it might end with
the woman failing to dissolve the marriage.
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- Under Iran's Islamic laws, a man is allowed to keep four
wives at one time, a right not granted to women.
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- Even if a husband is having an affair, he can claim to
have undertaken a "sigheh," or temporary marriage. It's a contract
allowed under Iranian law that allows a man and woman to be "married"
for any length of time they choose. Critics call it a form of legalized
prostitution.
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- Nor does a wife trapped in a violent marriage have much
recourse against her husband.
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- "A woman has to bring four men witnesses confirming
violence against her by her husband," Irani said. "How is a woman
in Iran expected to keep four men in her bedroom to witness her husband
beating her?"
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- Irani, who is also a writer on women's affairs, said
that husband killing is the "outcome of humiliation and discrimination
against women" and that the recent surge in cases should pressure
the country's leaders to improve legal protection for women.
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- Ahmadi, the sociologist, said that in a country where
there is virtually no sex education, unhappy marriages and domestic violence
also can arise when husbands and wives don't know how to please each other.
"Many couples don't have enjoyable sex," he said.
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- Abdosamad Khorramshahi, a lawyer, sees social changes
contributing to the killings.
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- "Previously, we had a socially closed society. Women
were not allowed even to get out of the home without the husband's permission.
Now, things have changed. They are more outspoken and courageous. Women
have become aware of their rights and are fighting for equality,"
he said.
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- According to official figures, 44,000 Iranians were divorced
last year, a 12 percent increase from the previous year. At the same time,
registered marriages were down 4.5 percent.
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- Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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