FULL DETAIL OF PRESS STATEMENT BY THE COALITION OF MUSLIM ORGANISATIONS, GHANA (COMOG) ON TUESDAY, 16TH FEBURARY 2009.Brothers and sisters in Islam, ladies and gentlemen of the media community, the Coalition of Muslim Organization, Ghana (COMOG), warmly welcomes you to this press conference.
The aim of this press conference is to clear the air and correct any possible erroneous impressions or perceptions created by recent publications in sections of the media, especially the print, and attributed to a group of Muslims called CONCERNED MUSLIM FORUM, who presented a petition to the Iranian Cultural Consulate to register their displeasure at what they described as gross human rights abuses particularly against women in Iran.” We will also take this opportunity to advice our brothers and sisters of the FORUM, and others, on the need to be guided by the tenets of the Holy Quran on the importance and the strength in unity of the Muslim Ummah, even in the face of our sectarian schisms.
DRESS CODE FOR MUSLIM WOMEN IN IRAN
Ladies and Gentlemen: To the best of our knowledge at Coalition of Muslim Organisations, Ghana (COMOG), the dress code for women in the Islamic Republic Iran, and all Muslim women for that matter, is not an imposition by the Iranian authority or any other authority, but as enjoined by the Almighty Allah Himself in the Holy Quran 24:31 and 33:59.
WOMEN IN IRAN: SALIENT FACTS AND FIGURES
In response to the claim in the said petition that women in Iran are “perpetually denied a voice to air their grievances, COMOG conducted investigations and arrived at the following verifiable facts.
1. The Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a woman; her name is Her Excellency Dr Fatemeh Vacz.
2. In the year 2006, female employees in government ministries, department and agencies in the Islamic Republic of Iran numbered 788,000.
3. The 2006 census revealed the fact that 80% of females aged 6 years and above in the Islamic Republic of Iran was literate.
4. As of 2006, 23.79% of Iranians holding senior management positions in that country were Women.
5. By the 2007 census, 51% of employees in the Iranian Ministry of Education were Women.
6. In 2007 alone, Iranian women published 9,500 books.
7. In the same year 2007, 52% of the university student population in the Islamic Republic of Iran was Women.
8. Early last years (2008), 980 women NGOs were operating in Islamic Republic of Iran.
Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, these facts speak volumes for themselves. Are these the same women who, according to the Concerned Muslim Forum are “perpetually denied a voice to air their grievances” and subjected to constant arrest and repression?
We have names of prominent and world renowned Iranian women scholars like Dr. Mehri Bagheri, Dr. Tahereh Kaqazchi, Dr. Badrozaman Qarib, Dr. Amir Banoo Karimi, Dr. Prirokh Dadsetan, Dr. Afsaneh Safavi, Dr shoku Navabi Nezhad and Dr Shahrbanu Qriyan, to mention but a few, who have attained academic, professional and technological excellence in linguistics, chemical engineering, literature, psychology, chemistry and medicine. These female intellectual giants, some of whom are professors and professors-emeritus, have studied and lectured in western universities, such as Geneva University, Birmingham University, Pennsylvania University, Bradford University, Sheffield University, etc.
Are these among the Iranian women on whom a dress code is allegedly imposed? How could these women rise to their present world standards of excellence, if they had been subjected to constant human rights violations, arrests and repression, as alleged by the Forum.
GHANA AND THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
The Islamic republic of Iran has consistently maintained its embassy, headed by a substantive Ambassador in Ghana since it was opened in 1983. Before 2008, when Ghana had not reopened its mission in Teheran, the Islamic Republic of Iran had been making considerable contributions towards the economy of Ghana and the well-being of Ghanaians in the following areas, among others:
HEALTH SERVICES
In addition to the Iran Clinic, which has been serving a sizable number of Ghanaians at highly subsidized fees, a full teaching hospital with modern equipments and facilities is to be built in Accra; work on it is to start this year. About four year ago, the Minister of Health of the Islamic Republic of Iran came to Ghana purposely to present to the Government of Ghana forty-one ambulances to augment the existing fleet for efficient and effective health service delivery to Ghanaians.
AGRICULTURE
Farming projects have been established, especially in the northern parts of Ghana, through Iran’s Agricultural and Rural Development (ARD) operations, needless to say that many Ghanaians including Muslims have benefited tremendously from these projects.
EDUCATION
The only Islamic University College in Ghana was established by the Islamic Republic of Iran for the benefit of Ghanaians.
THE OIL INDUSTRY
The Islamic Republic of Iran has over the years been the world’s second largest oil producer. With the recent discovery of oil in Ghana, our country has a lot to learn from the Islamic republic of Iran, in terms of experience in the industry, Petrol Chemical Engineering and the judicious exploitation of the precious product. To that end, COMOG has already commenced useful discussions with the Iranian authorities on the establishment of a Scholarship Scheme to sponsor qualified students to pursue courses in Petrol Chemical Engineering.
PROSPECTS IN BILATERAL TRADE AND OTHER RELATIONS
Among several official Ghanaian delegations to Iran is that of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which visited Iran in 2008. An Iranian Trade delegation is to visit Ghana next month with the aim of establishing and strengthening bilateral trade relations between both countries.
We wish however to state that such actions and utterances can discourage investors from Iran and other Muslim countries intending to invest in Ghana. In addition, it embarrasses the government of Ghana, which maintains very cordial relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
ADVICE
Such action by the FORUM has the potential of undermining and even negating all the above-mentioned benefits Ghanaians have been enjoying over the years, as well as those to be derived from our continued cordial relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially when the allegations made against the country flies in the face of facts and figures on the ground as explained above.
We believe that our brothers and sisters from the FORUM are all Muslims who can also benefit one way or another, from Ghana’s good relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
COMOG therefore calls on the FORUM and others with similar tendencies to put a stop to such actions and publications that are capable of injuring the larger interests of the Ghanaian, especially the Muslim Community. COMOG also calls on all Muslim sects in the country to be guided by the Holy Qur-aan, Chapter 21:32, and put an end to intra-Islamic and inter sectarian public controversies in the print and electronic media.
CONCLUSION
Finally, Ladies and Gentlemen, COMOG, as an umbrella Muslim organization, would like to make it crystal clear that the allegations made by the FORUM do not in any way represent the views of the COMOG, and indeed, the larger Ghanaian Muslim Community about the Islamic Republic of Iran.
COMOG therefore deeply regrets any embarrassment caused by the said action and publications by the FORUM, and we sincerely hope that this unfortunate incident will not be allowed to mar the very cordial diplomatic, cultural and economic relationship painstakingly nurtured over the years between the Republic of Ghana and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
COMOG will continue to remain all inclusive and all Muslims, be they Tijjaniyyah, Ahlussunna, Shia, or any others, in the spirit of Islam.
SOURCE: COMOG-GHANA.
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