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On February 2, 3, 4, NPR's Morning Edition will air a three part

series on Iran. In addition, American Radioworks, the documentary

unit of public radio, will air an hour long special it's called, "My

Name Is Iran".

NPR Producer Davar Ardalan's great-grandfather - Ali Akbar Davar -

created Iran's legal code in the 1920's. Ardalan has lived in Iran

under both the Shah's reign and that of the Ayatollahs. In this

special she traces her personal journey and Iran's struggle for a

lawful society, 25 years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

A century ago, Iran became the first country in the Middle East to

bring together secular and religious law. In 1979, an Islamic revolution made

Iran a theocracy and enshrined religious law as supreme. The changes were

dramatic: women were stoned for adultery, children could be tortured,

and the age of marriage for girls reduced to nine. Now, a movement is

growing within Iran to create a society that ensures human rights.

Inside Iran's courtrooms, Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and

other lawyers are fighting for change. For example, they've been

successful in raising the age of marriage for girls from nine to 13

and divorced women now can have custody of male children up to the age of seven.

But they are confronting hardline clerics who are adamant that the legal system

remain based on their interpretation of the word of God.

Ardalan and co-producer Rasool Nafisi explore the ferment in todays Iran

at a time when other nations in the Islamic world are debating how to

balance secular and sacred law in a modern society.

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On February 3 if you go to npr.org you will be able to click on a link

to the website as well.

Some of the voices you'll hear:

Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi

Lawyer and human rights activist Mehrangiz Kar

Human Rights Watch Elahe Sharifpour Hicks

Iranian Lawyer Ahmad Bashiri

Head of Iran's Bar Association Bahman Keshavarz

Ayatollah Mohagheh Damad

Robin Wright of the Washington Post

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage

Richard Perle of American Enterprise Institute

Mehraghdas Davar Maleki

Reza Pahlavi

Posted by 7rooz-farnazl () at February 2, 2004 12:00 AM