HRANA News Agency – Ayatollah Mohseni Eje’i, Prosecutor of Iran, was chosen as the winner of the International Bludgeon Award of the Woman’s Link worldwide as the most anti-woman judge in the world. In their announcement, the organization who awards the number one pro-women and anti-women judges in the world every year, said: ‘the Bludgeon went to a decision of the Supreme Court of Iran which found that wives who refuse to comply with their conjugal duties cannot file for a divorce even if the husband takes another woman as a wife. This decision was nominated by Shadi Sadr from Justice for Iran.”

Following the decision of the Supreme Court of Iran regarding limiting the right to divorce for women, on March 13, 2011, Justice for Iran nominated Ayatollah Mohseni Eje’i, as well as the majority of the judges on the Supreme Court, for the International Bludgeon award for having voted in favor of this decision. In a call for action, Justice for Iran asked everyone to use the Women’s Link Worldwide website and vote for Ayatollah Mohseni Eje’i.

The call for action stated: “The nomination is due to the decision issued by the Supreme Court in October 2010 based on which, if a women disobeys her husband sexually, and leaves his house, she can no longer use the right of divorce obtained as a marriage condition, even if her husband takes another wife. Based on this, if a wife has disagreement with her husband and leaves him and the husband takes another wife without obtaining her permission, the first wife is considered to be disobedient and thereby cannot obtain a divorce based on her marriage contract conditions. This is while according to the Iranian law, not only the husband has the right to have multiple wives, but also, if he so chooses, he can divorce his wife whenever he wants without providing any reasons as to why. According to the text of the vote published in the official gazette, Ayatollah Mohseni Eje’i stated his agreement with the elimination of the right of the women given to her by the marriage condition prior to the voting of the other judges. The blatant injustice ingrained in this vote and the negatives effects of it on the lives of all married or to be married Iranian women motivated Justice for Iran to nominate Mohseni Eje’i and the members of the Iranian Supreme Court for the worse judge of the year award.”

Twenty three other judges, other than Mohseni Eje’i, were nominated from countries of Spain, Colombia, UK, Argentina, El Salvador, the Philippines, Kenya, Mexico, Canada, Ecuador, and Cambodia.

Last night, on June 2, 2011, in a ceremony in Madrid, the jury awarded Mohseni Eje’i to be the winner of the International Bludgeon award of this year.

Shadi Sadr, director of Justice For Iran said in the ceremony: ‘I am so glad that once again, the issue of gender discrimination in Iran has been visible at international level. I would like to thank Women’s World Wide to make this unique opportunity for us to nominate Ayatollah Mohseni Eje’i and the majority of the judges of Iran’s Supreme Court to nominate them and to shame them through the gathering bludgeon for them.’

The winner of the Gavel went to a decision made by the Inter American Commission for Human Rights that asked Haiti to take measures to protect women and girls who were victims of sexual violence in the internally displaced camps after the 2010 earthquake. The measures include adequate medical attention, availability of emergency contraception and prevention against sexual violence. This decision was nominated by Lisa Davis, Adjunct Professor at CUNY Law School and Human Rights Advocacy Director for MADRE.

Viviana Waisman, Executive Director at Women’s Link said in the ceremony: “In all countries, regardless their political system, national culture or religious believes, statements made by judges, courts or tribunals have an enormous influence on the sense of justice and the daily life of men and women. With the Gender Justice Uncovered Awards all of their decisions are under a magnifying glass and citizens from all over the world can help in scrutinizing them”.

Woman’s Link Worldwide jury consists of Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, Mexican journalist and writer who has won numerous awards for her work on the conditions of human rights and sexual violence. Baltasar Garzon, justice of the Spain’s High Court and the advisor to the International Criminal Court who issued the arrest warrant for Pinochet, former dictator of Chile. And Patricia Sellers, Prosecutor and advisor on sexual matters to the International Criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia as well as the prosecutor for the Women’s War Crime Tribunal in Japan.

This is the third year Women’s Link Worldwide issues the international Bludgeon Award to the most Anti-Women judge in the world. This year, the organization also awarded the international Gavel award for having issued a decision to most help promote gender equality.

Justice for Iran thanks all those who voted for Mohseni Eje’i and helped bring the attention of the international community to the discriminatory laws in Iran and the behavior of the Supreme Court judges in further promoting these discriminatory laws. Justice for Iran considers this award to be a positive step towards holding the human rights violators in Iran accountable, a step towards the goal that no human rights violation must go unheeded.

Who is Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eje’i?

Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eje’i was born in 1956 in Ejeyeh of Isfahan Province. After the revolution, for 14 years he held different judicial and intelligence related posts.

Some of his posts include: head of the selection office of the ministry of Intelligence between 1984-1985, representative of the Judiciary in the ministry of Intelligence from the second half of 1985 to 1988, head of the Special Court for Economic issues in 1989 and 1990, representative of the Judiciary in the Ministry of Intelligence and some protection offices between 1991 and 1994, prosecutor of the Special Court for the Clergy between 1985 and 1987. Further, according to testimony of political prisoners, he was a member of a committee known as “Death Committee” by whose decision thousands of political prisoners were killed in 1988. It is further alleged that he issued the fatwa for assassination of some modern thinkers and writers during the chain murders.

Aside from heading the special court for the clergy, between 1998 and 2002, Mohseni Eje’i was in charge of the Special Judicial Compound to Process the Crimes of the Government Employees. In the recent years, he was the representative of the judiciary in the committee to supervise published press, a committee who issued the closure order for tens of newspapers and magazines.

During Ahmadinejad, he was first introduced as the minister of Intelligence that, due to the role that office played in crushing the opposition post 2009 presidential election, is known to be one of the main violators of human rights. For this reason, the American government placed him amongst the names of statesmen who are subject to sanction.

Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eje’i is currently the Prosecutor of Iran.