The women of Iran are forbidden to stand in the upcoming
presidential election on June 14, and are being strangled by
ever-increasing restrictions. What has happened to the
courageous Iranian women’s movement of dissent that gave
inspiration to the protests of the Arab Spring uprisings? A
member of the Guardian Council, who vets election candidates
according to their Islamic credentials, declared that women were
barred from running. Under the constitution, President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad cannot stand for a third term, and out of 686
candidates competing to fill his place, only eight were cleared
by the Guardian Council. Two have since resigned. All six
remaining are associated with the supreme ruler, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei. They include the frontrunner, Saeed Jalili, an
Islamist ideologue and protégé of Khamenei. Women’s rights
activists are hampered by restrictions in freedom of speech and
assembly. Moreover, the Iranian constitution is founded on
velayat-e faqih, the principle of absolute rule by an Islamic c