Women in Iran

From the Christian Examiner:

Fourteen months after being arrested for their Christian faith, two young Iranian women were acquitted on apostasy charges.

Maryam Rostampour, 28, and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 31, who spent more than 250 days in jail for their faith, were acquitted by the Iranian judicial authorities and warned that any future Christian activity in Iran would be meant with serious consequences.

The young women were arrested in March 2009 and faced apostasy charges and possible death sentences for converting to Christianity and for reportedly engaging in evangelistic activities and Bible distribution.

Rostampour and Amirizadeh endured repeated interrogations, weeks in solitary confinement, and unhealthy prison conditions in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. According to Elam Ministries, both women became seriously sick during their imprisonment and did not receive the treatment they needed, which greatly increased their suffering.

A deputy prosecutor who told them to renounce their faith questioned the women at one point. According to Farsi Christian News Network Rostampour and Amirizadeh stood firm and replied, “We will not deny our faith.”

And from Reuters:

Iran's second biggest city has massively increased the amount it fines for women who fail to observe the Islamic dress code and don't cover their hair properly, media reported.

Morality police around Iran are beginning their annual spring crackdown on women wearing too much makeup, daring to show their hair or dressing in a way that shows their body contours too clearly.

In the holy city of Masshad, the public prosecutor has increased the fine to 1.3 million tomans, roughly $1,300 -- a hefty sum in a country where a teacher's monthly salary is around $500.

"In the past the penalty for not observing the Islamic dress code was 50,000 tomans along with two months' imprisonment," Mashhad's public and revolutionary prosecutor Mahmoud Zoghi told the semi-official Fars news agency.