via lgf, lj entry #4399

[scottobear]

A wave of husband killings.

Iranian women are becoming increasingly sick of the male-dominated Islamic nightmare land in which they live. Divorce is not an option.

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.

Women are basically property. Slaves, by any other name. What a sad waste. This is why Islamic societies are failing.

Under Iran's Islamic laws, a man is allowed to keep four wives at one time, a right not granted to women.

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.

Nor does a wife trapped in a violent marriage have much recourse against her husband.

"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?"

And this relentless oppression is resulting in an unprecedented wave of husband killings. Root causes, anyone?

"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.

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.