VOA常速英语2008年-Amnesty International Calls for Iran to End Gen

By Tendai Maphosa
London
28 February 2008

An Amnesty International report is calling for Iranian authorities to stop harassing¹ women human rights defenders² and take urgent steps to dismantle³ discriminatory legislation.  Tendai Maphosa reports for VOA from London.

Iranian women are getting more vocal⁴ in their demands for equality before the law.  The Amnesty International report says dozens of activists⁵ and supporters have been arrested in connection with their activities for the Campaign for Equality, founded in 2006. 

As of January 2008, the Campaign's website had been blocked by the authorities at least seven times, the report says. 

Amnesty's Ann Harrison explained some of the laws that have caused Iranian women to risk arrest and harassment⁶ by the authorities.

"There are a number of areas of life in Iran where women are discriminated⁷ against, they are discriminated against in the civil code and areas of marriage and divorce, women can be married at the age of 13 or even younger if their parents apply to a court," she explained.  "Women have much less rights to divorce their husbands, [and] there are also issues of child custody⁸.   A woman's weight of testimony⁹ in court is only worth half that of a man's, and  ... actual compensation for injury is half that of a man."

The report also says what it calls legalized discrimination excludes women from the most senior positions of state and appointment as judges. 

VOA asked Harrison if some of the laws were rooted in the Islamic faith.  She said the campaigners do not see any clash between their demands and Islamic law, and says some clerics have actually come out in their support.

"They point to the fact that senior Ayatollahs have issued fatwas [edicts], which suggest that these kind of changes can be made within Islam," she said.

The Amnesty International report mentions Ronak Safarzadeh and Hana Abdi - two Kurdish-Iranian activists arrested in 2007 for peacefully exercising their rights.  It says they are being detained without charge or trial and are being denied access to a lawyer.

The human rights organization also published details of 12 women's rights activists, 11 women and one man, who are currently being detained or are otherwise facing persecution¹⁰ because of their peaceful efforts to lobby for legislative¹¹ change.
 
The report calls for the government, Iran's parliament, and the judicial¹² authorities to abide¹³ by Iran's international obligations to uphold women's rights and end legal and other discrimination. 

1 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

2 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

4 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

5 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

7 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

8 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

9 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

10 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

11 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

12 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

13 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。