Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/author/soheila-vahdati/)
Iran’s protests in 2005 were initiated by women’s rights activists, says Soheila Vahdati. This time, however, men and women came together without strongly gendered identities, forming a more balanced opposition to the Islamic regime.
A prominent Buffalo businessman’s beheading of his wife last week is being discussed as an honor crime. Soheila Vahdati says that’s the wrong term for a domestic homicide that occurs inside the United States.
Iran’s women’s rights activists feared a hawkish Hillary Clinton as president and now wonder what she’ll be like as secretary of state. Vahdati says moderate factions in Iran, including women’s rights activists, have the most to lose from militarism.
Iranian activists are bravely pushing for women’s rights. But Soheila Vahdati warns that an outbreak of an Iran-Israeli war that involves the Bush White House would fan the flames of fundamentalism and destroy the cause.
Stop Stoning Forever is a campaign to end the Iranian law making stoning a legal punishment for adultery. Soheila Vahdati says this new push needs American popular support, but should not be confused with official U.S. policy toward Iran.