BAHAR ABBASİ - EVİN MOSTAFA ZADEH

Mahabad- Two female activists named Bahar Abbasi and Evin Mostafa Zahed posted their social media accounts about a crime network forcing women into prostitution in Sardasht. Their posts went viral in a short time across the city. Police have been reportedly arrested three members of the network. The women told us that the crime network has forced women into prostitution in the city for 15 years.

After the arrests of the three members, the victims, who remained silent for years, have reported they were also raped by the network on social media. But only one woman has been reportedly filed a criminal complaint against the network until now.

Women were forced to swear by putting their hand on the perpetrators

After the arrest of the network members, the legal process began. The court asked the victims to swear that they were raped by the perpetrators during the hearing. In Iran, the court normally demands people to swear on the Qur'an but the victims were reportedly forced to swear by putting their hand the perpetrators. The victims were told, “Put your hand on them and swear that they attacked you.”

“She was raped on the pretext of marriage”

According to the received reports, many women in Sardasht were subjected to rape, sexual assault, insult, and blackmail in public spaces by the members of the crime network. A woman named S.M. is one of the victims. She was raped by a member of the network on the pretext of marriage. “He told me he wanted to get married to me. He even met with my family. I thought I could trust him because he met with my family. One day, he invited me to his home to meet his family. He raped me there. He always told me that we were going to get married so we wouldn’t have a problem. After a while, I learned that he did the same thing to another woman named R.S. I had to leave Iran.”

“I still feel uncomfortable when someone touches me”

Activists launched an online campaign and asked women to share what they had faced. “I went to a private school to study a foreign language when I was 15 years old. The teacher in the room locked the door while I was filling up a form. He attacked me. He threatened me to tell anyone about the attack. Since then, I have felt uncomfortable when someone touches me,” one of the social media users posted.

Activist Nazila Halimeh Hassan played an important role in busting the crime network. “Three members of the crime network are in jail now. They haven’t confessed yet. A victim was summoned to the court to swear three times. During the hearing, she was asked to put her hand on the perpetrators to swear.  It was terrible. She is the only woman, who filed a criminal complaint against them despite all pressure on her. She and her family worked for months to find the perpetrators. If people support the women, I know that the numbers of victims will increase.” she told us.

“We should raise awareness”

“There is a crime network forcing women into prostitution. We shouldn’t ignore this due to our patriarchal society. All members of the crime network should be found and punished. We should raise awareness of women against such networks,” activist Mina Khani said.