On 15 November 2000 a sociologist specializing on Iran at the CNRS-Monde Iranien in Paris stated that:

[Translation]

According to the laws currently in force (the first amendment to Article 1210 of the civil code, adopted in 1981 by the Islamic Parliament), the age of maturity for girls is nine years (for boys, 15 years). Girls are not considered children from the age of nine (unless they are considered mentally retarded) and they have legal and penal responsibility. They are also authorized to manage their property. Thus Article 1006 of the Civil Code stipulating that the residence of children and of mentally retarded people must be that of their fathers does not apply to a "normal" girl of 17, who is considered to be an adult under the law. A priori, she has the right to live alone.

An article which appeared in the British newspaper The Guardian on the former Iranian revolutionary Abbas Abdi suggests that although a 17-year-old female is technically considered an adult under Iranian law, it is not likely to be socially acceptable for her to live independently, as indicated in the following passages:

But to his [Abdi's] idealistic daughter, born one month after Mr. Abdi seized the US embassy, backing the pro-democracy students in the streets means that one day she may not be forced to put on a chador when she enters a government building, and that she may be allowed to live alone as a single woman.

'People my age are fighting for political freedom because society lacks social freedom,' she said, eloquently capturing the motivation of the worst unrest since the Islamic Revolution.

'What I want from life is to be more independent. My dream is that one day I will have a small flat and earn my own living.

'This is impossible in Iran at the moment. My God, you can't even talk about this, people would think badly of you.' (23 July 1999)

Additional or corroborating information could not be found within the time constraints of this Response.

Further information provided on social attitudes to unmarried women living alone can be found in Responses IRN29217.E of 1 May 1998 and IRN29551.E of 29 June 1998.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate 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. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

The Guardian [London]. 23 July 1999. Geneive Abdo. "Yesterday's Radicals Face Today's Iran: As A New Generation Embarks on Protests, the Revolutionaries of 1979 Watch Warily." (NEXIS)

Sociologist, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France. 15 November 2000. Correspondence. The sociologist is also a chargée de conférences at the Sorbonne-Nouvelle Paris-III.

In the Eye of the Storm: Women in Post-Revolutionary Iran

Iran: The Subjection of Women. Parliamentary Human Rights Group 1994.

IRB databases

Price of Honour: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World

WIN News [Lexington, Mass.]. Summer 1997- Spring 2000
Women Living Under Muslim Laws:

Dossier 21

Women's Reproductive Rights in Muslim Communities and Countries: Issues and Resources

Unsuccessful attempts to contact 5 non-documentary sources.