Dokument #1025589
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
The following information was provided
during a telephone interview on 24 November 1995 with a professor
at the Department of Applied Social Sciences at Concordia
University who is a specialist of women in Iran, and who recently
published an article on women in Iran in Fireweed, a
feminist academic journal published at the University of York in
Toronto.
According to the professor, the law states
that regardless of her citizenship or religious affiliation, a
woman who marries an Iranian man automatically becomes a citizen of
Iran and a Muslim. For the Iranian authorities, the act of marrying
a Muslim man means that the woman subscribes to the rules of
Shari'a and Islam, even if she is not Muslim.
According to the socio-economic and
educational status of the husband's family, the woman might have
difficulties being accepted by them. For instance, the source
stated that if the family is rich, educated and liberal they are
likely to accept her as a family member; if the family is poor,
uneducated and fervently Muslim, the woman might experience
integration problems with the family.
The professor stated that the woman would
be able to live a normal life in Iran as long as she kept her
atheism to herself and did not state it publicly.
If a marriage certificate is issued, it
signifies that the Iranian authorities recognize and accept the
marriage as legitimate, even if it was performed abroad. Moreover,
the Iranian authorities abroad conduct thorough verifications of
marriage registration, especially with regard to respecting the
Shari'a and the civil laws. A marriage certificate would not
indicate that the woman had no religion because she would
automatically become Muslim upon her marriage to an Iranian
man.
The following information was provided
during a telephone interview on 29 November 1995 with the
researcher on Iran at Middle East Watch in New York.
According to the source, the ethnic origin
of the woman in a mixed marriage is not relevant to whether or not
she will face difficulties in Iran, but her religious affiliation
is important.
The source stated that by law a woman who
marries an Iranian man automatically becomes Muslim, and is
considered as such by the Iranian authorities. In other words, an
Iranian man who marries a woman who is non-Iranian and/or
non-Muslim will be able to live a normal life in Iran. However, an
atheist Chinese woman married to an Iranian man must not declare in
public that she is atheist. According to the source, there is no
reason why the Chinese woman would publicly have to declare that
she is atheist. In circumstances where the Chinese woman has to
obtain official documents such as a passport or a plane ticket, she
would have to declare that she is a Muslim even if she is
atheist.
If the authorities discover that she is not
Muslim or that she is atheist, they will not annul the marriage
automatically. If the husband protects his wife and consents to her
beliefs, the authorities will not intervene and the wife will be
safe to stay in the country. The source stated that men are
powerful in Iran and that marriage is considered the domain of the
husband.
A mixed couple composed of an Iranian man
and a Chinese woman could register at the Iranian Embassy in China
and obtain a marriage certificate in Iran because the officials
would assume that the woman is Muslim. Therefore, the Iranian
authorities would consider the marriage legitimate. For the same
reason, the marriage certificate would not show that she has no
religion. On this last point, the source indicated that the Iranian
authorities would not register a marriage where one of the persons
stated that they had no religion.
The following information was provided
during a telephone interview on 16 November 1995 with a professor
at the Department of Social Anthropology at Concordia University
and a specialist of women in Iran. The professor is currently
working on a research project on women and the law in Iran.
According to the professor, the laws on
this issue are ambiguous. The professor added that, in the above
circumstances, the Iranian officials at the embassy might assume
that the Chinese woman was Muslim. Iranian officials at the
embassies are not necessarily inflexible when they register a
marriage, and they may not ask the religious affiliation of the
woman. In general, if the woman is not a Muslim, a Jew, a
Christian, a Zoroastrian or a Hindu, the marriage cannot be
performed in Iran. By marrying an Iranian citizen, a Chinese woman
will, in theory, have to revoke her Chinese citizenship in order to
become an Iranian citizen. However, this law has not been enforced
since the Shah was in power.
Muslim men who marry a non-believer or a
non-Muslim can have the ceremony conducted in a mosque. However,
when couples get married in a mosque, it usually means that they
are religious people.
If the woman does not inform the
authorities about her being non-Muslim, they will likely not care
to ask. If it becomes public knowledge that the woman is
non-believer, the marriage can be annuled. The family of the
husband, or any other people or organizations could make a
complaint about her being a non-believer and request the
cancellation of the marriage. In theory, the Iranian authorities
have the power to annul the marriage without the consent of the
spouses. However, the professor emphasized that this does not mean
they will do it, only that they have the power to do it. The
professor stated that this scenario can be simply avoided if the
Chinese woman says that she is a believer.
If the woman refuses to convert she will be
considered a sinner and can theoretically be prosecuted. It is
likely that she would have to leave the country after a divorce or
the cancellation of the marriage. However, the Iranian authorities
would be more lenient with a Chinese woman because she is
non-European.
Legally, mixed marriages are not a problem
in Iran. If the woman converts to Islam, the couple will not face
difficulties living in Iran. Ethnicity (except in the case of
Europeans) is not a factor in assessing mixed marriages in Iran,
whereas religious affiliation does play a part in assessing such a
mixed marriage.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Concordia University, Department of
Social Anthropology, Montreal. 16 November 1995. Telephone
interview with a professor.
Concordia University, Department of
Applied Social Sciences, Montreal. 24 November 1995. Telephone
interview with a professor.
Middle East Watch, New York. 29 November
1995. Telephone interview with the researcher on Iran.