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“They buy sex and they sell it”: temporary marriage or the “moral” legalization of prostitution in Iran
- According to clerics, this practice aims to “sexual pleasure, prevent sin and corruption.”
- They can last from one hour to 99 years, they are promoted in holy places, offices or on Telegram channels
01.04.2024 | 07:13 hours Source: rtve.es
ByEBBABA HAMEIDA (Special Envoy to Iran)
Veiled Iranian women stand next to a sign (right) with an image of an Iranian woman’s legs and Persian writing that reads: “Street prostitution is more respectable than marriage, and marriage is legal prostitution” MORTEZA NIKOUBAZL / NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES)
7 min.
“I resorted to a temporary marriage for money,” admits Roshanak. He arrives out of breath and hurries to sit down at a large dark wooden table in his lawyer’s office in Tehran to give an interview that serves as a relief. He chooses as his fictitious name one that means clarity, despite the fact that he has had a life marked by “loneliness and a lot of darkness . ” It doesn’t take long for his eyes to fill with tears, his hands trembling holding a transparent plastic folder that contains two pages of paper whose usefulness is practically nil. At 35 years old, she finds herself trapped by a bond that she accepted in an attempt to “get ahead.”
It’s not the first time he’s gotten married. The Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran regulates ordinary marriage, also called “permanent”, according to the rules dictated by Sharia or Islamic Law . But in Chapter 6 he collects articles about sigheh: a temporary, private and verbal contract that is practiced in Shiite Islam. A link that can last from one hour to up to 99 years . According to the religious mandate, its objective is “sexual pleasure to prevent sin and corruption . ”
In ancient times, the justification for this practice “was that men, being away from home, needed access to women to satisfy their sexual needs,” explains British-Iranian anthropologist Kameel Ahmady . He is the author of the book A Comprehensive Investigation into Temporary Marriage in Iran in which he explains that these marriages date back to the nomadic tradition, when men traveled in camel caravans for months or years for business or pilgrimage. It is a custom that has not disappeared over time. In 1990 it was legalized in the Persian country as a “fundamental right” by the late Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanyaní , just after the Iraq war ended. Political and religious leaders are also campaigning for what they defend as “legal coverage for the prohibition of sexual relations outside of marriage punishable by the Penal Code,” says Shima Ghooshe , a lawyer specializing in women’s rights in the Persian capital. .
On the streets of Tehran there are no hidden office facades that are dedicated to promoting these temporary links, there are also Telegram channels that promote women who are willing to contract sigheh . They are promoted by age and physical appearance. “In reality, it is a legal formula for the man to buy the woman, turn her into his property, and do with her body whatever he wants,” denounces the lawyer who will handle Roshanak’s case. Samira Ghadimi.
Samira Ghadimi posing in her office in Tehran
The lawyer feels helpless when she receives clients like Roshanak, she recognizes that there is a legal loophole that harms them. “They come to me to ask for help , but according to the law we can only help them if they are pregnant, if we can prove that the child is the result of that union so that they can at least give them her last name,” she argues.
“ He abused me as he wanted.”
There are many voices that denounce that it is a way of promoting “prostitution and child marriage.” Roshanak has been working since he was 17, caring for the elderly and cleaning houses. She married for the first time to a man with whom she could not have children. She spent 13 years living with a person who abused her and accused her of infertility. “I was the one who kept the home,” she says. Until she met her current “husband”, 84 years old, with whom she reached a three-year temporary marriage agreement. “I asked him for a dowry to get a divorce from the previous one,” she alleges, although she has not received anything. She acknowledges that this is not the first time she has resorted to sigheh . “My father died, my family is very humble and I have been forced to use this practice to get ahead,” she concludes.
“During this time he has felt like he is the owner of my body and has abused me as he wanted,” he denounces. His voice breaks, she rubs her hands on her knees in search of firmness to continue with his story. “We haven’t had sexual relations in nine months, he is very old and he blames me for his impotence ,” he says. Almost three years after getting married, she wants to “fight to be a permanent wife to get some rights.” Her story is as contradictory as the very rules of the Islamic Republic. This type of temporary marriage does not contemplate women’s rights, so it benefits men by allowing them to have unlimited relationships when polygamy only allows four wives at the same time.
Ghadimi has yet to delve into the case of his new client, but he acknowledges that it is difficult to defend these women because the law only requires men to give dowry or to recognize the paternity of a child if it is proven that it is theirs. “I had a case of a woman who gave birth in the hospital and we had to ask the authorities for help to force the man to recognize the child ,” she explains, because in Iran children cannot take the mother’s surname. Some women who enter into this type of relationship sometimes become pregnant and the men, most of them, “are not responsible for the custody of the child,” agrees Kameel Ahmady . In addition, there is a predominant discrimination in the Sigheh and that is that a woman has to wait at least 45 days between one marriage and another, explains the jurist, “to prevent and distinguish the father of a pregnancy . ” Except in the case of those who are in the menopause phase.
A verbal contract: there are no rights
Iran is the only Muslim country that legalizes Sigheh , although it is also practiced in neighboring Iraq and Yemen. “ The justification of the political system is supported by religious ideology , in order to maintain purification or keep its population pure so that they do not commit the sin of fornication or do not have sexual relations before marriage,” indicates Ahmady. Furthermore, in times of economic crisis, the State promotes temporary marriage as a quick, easy and cheap way to get married. The ayatollah regime defends this practice as an alternative for young people who, due to economic circumstances, cannot afford to celebrate a wedding.
However, the ambiguities about the legal and religious aspects of temporary marriage, the anthropologist denounces, do not take into account the social conditions of Iran. “They have led to unpleasant consequences such as child marriage, school dropout of girls and adolescents, violation of women’s rights, as well as physical injuries and psychological pressures on women ,” he argues. Detractors of this practice call it an excuse to morally justify the behavior of some men. Furthermore, “the man usually pays a certain amount in advance for sexual services without taking into account the psychological stress and social stigma ,” the lawyers agree.
In her book A House on Water , Ahmady examines the emergence and spread of new forms of casual marriage between adults, legal loopholes and their impact on people, especially women, in cases such as dowry, allotment, custody and unwanted pregnancy. Her conclusion is that “a significant number of women do not like this type of temporary marriage. In her opinion, it is a repulsive practice that should not be accepted .” But legislators have approved the legal acceptance of these marriages and the religious sectors of Iranian society have also accepted temporary marriage and adhere to it.
The hands of Roshanak victim of the Sigheh
Sex tourism “so that widows can earn income”
“It is very sexist, the law does not contemplate the consequences it has on women, but we have used legal arguments in a country where adultery is criminalized,” says Shima Ghooshe . The two lawyers explain that, to defend women’s rights in the Islamic Republic, they need to know what Mohammedan law says and find a formula to interpret it in favor of women. They agree that Iranian society is not in favor of this type of marriage and that women who are in poverty resort to this practice. “Because temporary marriage, which does not include dowry, is rejected and the dowry is set by the woman; It could even be a flower,” Ghadimi gives an example.
Women like Roshanak are a minority who are dedicated to achieving financial gain in exchange for sex. They resort to temporary marriage as a legal shield from prostitution and in that law “they seek protection so as not to be arrested,” explains the London-based researcher. “It is a tool for widows to earn income, those who are unemployed and cannot support their children ,” he points out. “When these joints can be made for minutes and hours, it is clear that there is an economic component,” insists Shima Ghooshe.
Currently, these types of temporary relations in Iran are very well systematized. Ahmady, after years of investigation, concludes that there are companies and people profiting from the Sigheh . They have a network of hotels, specific places, registry offices and people who promote temporary marriage of women for tourists, especially religious tourists. “Many single Arab men and foreigners, mainly from Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, go to holy cities like Mashhad and Qum and religious shrines and get married temporarily during their stay,” she explains.
It has encouraged the sex tourism industry. There is a lot of business invested in temporary marriage. In addition, it widens the path to child marriage, because the business is also that if a girl is a virgin, the compensation is greater. “Although Islam dictates that if a woman is a virgin she needs permission from her parents ,” says Ghooshe. But, in this case, it is not about Islam, but about putting man at the center as a good patriarchal republic led by clerics who live centuries behind the society they govern.