“منظوری از شهر تهران”

“A View of Tehran City”
Conversation with Siamak Malamhamedi

The upcoming conversation is with a woman whose husband has been in prison for some time due to his inability to pay the dowry for his previous marriage. Both the husband and wife have been married and divorced once before. The woman, in a usual and amicable manner, left their previous life together and gave up her dowry, but the man – her current husband – has been faced with a complaint from his previous wife and has been forced to pay installments for the dowry and, of course, support for their two children from the first marriage. Ultimately, he was unable to pay according to the planned installment schedule, due to the increase in the price of gold coins. Although he has requested to have the installments adjusted in court, due to administrative shortcomings and lack of effective response to his request, he ends up in prison. Now, this woman, with a direct understanding of the issues and problems that the current dowry system can create for a family, is protesting against the dow

Where did your problem with the dowry start?

My problem with the dowry started when I got married for the second time. The man I married was still dealing with the dowry from his first marriage. In the beginning of our life together, we didn’t have many problems. We worked together and managed our life, including the dowry payments and expenses for his children. The problem arose when the price of gold coins increased five times. Even though we both worked, we couldn’t afford to pay the 5 million tomans for the coins, which kept increasing in price. My ex-husband’s previous wife filed a complaint against him according to the current law, and he was sentenced and has been in prison for about four months now. This issue of imprisonment had happened multiple times before regarding the dowry. At that time, with the issuance of a bail order that was within my means, I could have gotten him out of prison. In the end, we realized that this process was futile; meaning my husband would repeatedly go to

I gave my dowry in my previous marriage. I did this because of my beliefs and I have no regrets about it. Currently, my first husband and I are in a friendly relationship and whenever one of us has a problem, we do not hesitate to help each other. It goes without saying that he is the father of my child and we did not separate through fighting. We came to the conclusion that continuing this life was causing us more harm and we separated amicably and went our separate ways.

You said that their spouse provides for the children from their first marriage. How many years did your spouse live with their previous spouse and how many children do they have from this marriage?

They had 13 years of married life and are the parents of a son and a daughter.

What age are the children?

Their daughter is 17-18 years old and their son is 8 years old.

Until what age do children in Iran receive child support?

We will provide for our son until he turns 18 and for our daughter until she gets married. However, if our son can prove in court that after turning 18, for example due to illness or continuing education, he is unable to support himself, he will still be entitled to financial support.

What exactly happened that your spouse ended up in prison and what will be the outcome of their legal proceedings?

The issue started from the fact that last summer, my spouse requested for the adjustment of the installments of the dowry. According to the previous court ruling, half a coin of dowry installment had to be paid every month. But when the price of the coin went up, they requested for the adjustment of the installments and the court ruled for one coin every four months. Unfortunately, this ruling was not finalized in a conclusive manner. My ex-spouse did not attend the court session and did not request for an appeal within the given time frame. As you know, after issuing an absentia ruling, the person against whom the ruling is issued has the opportunity to request for an appeal within 20 working days. That is, they can ask the court to hold another session, defend themselves, and for example, if they have any documents proving that the other party has financial capability, present them. They did not request for an appeal at all and after following up with the court, we

What is your spouse’s occupation?

They were previously working at a network engineering company, but unfortunately, due to the disturbances caused by their ex-spouse, they lost their job. Keep in mind that on average, this woman would visit the company once a week, causing chaos, or bringing in authorities, or sending notices, summons, and warnings to the company. The CEO of the company tolerated it to some extent, but ultimately, my spouse was fired because of this. It should be noted that the same company was dissolved due to unfavorable economic conditions.

What job were they doing before going to prison?

After my spouse was fired from that company, they were unemployed. During that time, I was paying for our living expenses, including food, rent, and alimony, in addition to my own income. In fact, I was practically carrying the burden of two lives. In this situation, my ex-husband’s former spouse complained to him to increase the alimony payments.

As we had come to the conclusion that we were somehow extorting this lady, and on the other hand my income was no longer enough to cover the expenses of life, alimony, and dowry payments, our final decision was for them to spend some time in prison.

Which prison is your spouse currently imprisoned in?

Evin Prison.

Tell us about the conditions there, for example the situation of prisoners, food and hygiene, and the treatment of officials towards us.

Since my husband had set a condition that I never visit him, I have no knowledge of the conditions there. To be honest, he doesn’t want me to enter the prison environment and that’s why I really don’t know anything about the conditions inside the prison. The only thing I know is that the food situation for prisoners is not good.

I know that initially, for a period of 72 hours, prisoners are kept in quarantine. The food situation in quarantine is even worse than in other wards. After quarantine, it is determined which ward each prisoner will go to, based on their charges. For example, financial convicts go to the financial ward, and thieves go to the appropriate ward. Apparently, during these 72 hours when all prisoners, of all types, are together, the officials do not treat them appropriately.

How long do you think this situation and actually being in prison will continue for your spouse?

In any case, my spouse is in prison due to their inability to pay. They have a court hearing coming up which will determine why the court’s final decision to adjust the installments has not been issued. Additionally, my spouse must declare that they are unable to pay even the initial court ruling; meaning that even 4 months’ worth of installments is too much and they cannot afford to pay. From last August until now, the price of gold coins has increased by around 1 million and 300-400 thousand tomans. Last August, the price of a gold coin was 3 million and 700 thousand tomans, now it is 5 million and 125 thousand tomans.

Has the effectiveness of the new head of the judiciary and the decisions he has announced had any impact on the progress of your spouse’s case?

The order issued by the head of the judiciary takes time to be implemented; the process of judges reviewing verdicts and courts being formed takes a while and within a few days it cannot be determined whether it has had any impact or not.

However, they strongly emphasize that the current dowry system in Iran is not even a tradition of the Prophet and there is no place in the Quran or Sharia where someone who does not have money should go to prison for dowry. In fact, according to the teachings of Islam, someone who is financially unable is safe. There is even a proverb that says: “The bankrupt is safe with God”; meaning that the bankrupt is safe with God.

In any case, the issue is that the amount of dowry in our Islamic country is not in accordance with religious laws and has deviated from its path. In fact, it is not the religious law, but rather the custom that has caused these problems. Like many other things that are not mentioned in religious law but happen and become a law, and a group of people – like myself – unintentionally ruin their lives.

Can you give a brief explanation about your activities in the field of dowry?

I collaborate with various virtual pages and have sent numerous comments and text messages to parliamentary representatives. This morning, I also went to the Tehran Governorate to follow up on obtaining a permit for a gathering of prisoners’ families for dowry. However, I have not been able to obtain a permit yet because a certain number of signatures need to be shown to prove that some people are in favor of holding this gathering. For this purpose, I also need to establish an NGO, which has its own detailed administrative procedures.

How many signatures are required to obtain a permit for a gathering?

I’m not sure. Tomorrow I will go to the governor’s office and ask. The important thing is whether electronic signatures are acceptable or not. Because the scattering of people who are facing a similar problem at the national level makes it difficult to collect signatures, and using electronic signatures and collecting signatures in the virtual space is much easier.

What do you think would be a better alternative to dowry for eliminating dowry? Is there a solution for making the family system more fair?

See, because dowry is part of Islamic law, we cannot say that we can eliminate it. We need to promote a culture where families keep the amount of dowry low and reasonable. Or, if it is not in the form of money, it should be something that is available at the time of marriage. You are committing to something that is not actually present at the time of marriage, and in a way, you are lying. This lying becomes the foundation of marriage.

I also believe in the division of property that couples acquire after marriage and that both parties have equal rights to divorce and custody. In fact, I think the division of property, which is implemented in many countries, is a good idea. It is not fair for all rights to be for men. For example, if a woman decides that she can no longer continue a married life but the law does not allow her to divorce, it is not good and not fair.

Women face many challenges in marriage. For example, it has been stated that if the husband is addicted or has other specified problems, the wife can request a divorce, if she can prove these issues and if the judge approves. As a result, the woman will have a long road ahead for divorce.

Do you have any notes to add at the end?

Good, I just hope we move towards passing laws that are based on humanity, not gender. And perhaps our voice as the families of prisoners for dowry will also reach the authorities, because we also have rights.

Thank you for the opportunity you have provided us with to access the peace line.