The regime's volunteer religious police force, bearded Basij militias, had once again raided one of Tehran's forbidden parties, knocked down the house door, and dragged the guests, including Assal, to the nearest police station. Her crime: "immoral relations," contact with young men who are not members of her family.
When Assal left the court, her skin was raw from her shoulder blades to her ankles, and blood oozed through her tight jeans and black T-shirt
When asked about Assal's fate, ultraconservative politician Hamid Reza Terakki refers to her as "lost, led astray." The chairman of the strictly Islamic party, Jamijat-e Motalefe-je Islami, stands in front of a flipchart in his office in downtown Tehran and outlines progress on the "path of the revolution." He taps the tip of the path with a telescopic pointer. There, he says, are the "true, holy values, prosperity and the rules of Islam."
For the past 30 years, Terakki, 49, has been doggedly fighting for the revolution. He was imprisoned and tortured during the reign of Shah Mohammed Reza. He says that this only made him more resolute in his belief. Since the controversial victory of the conservatives in parliamentary elections and the shift in power in the Majlis in May, men like Terakki have been making a comeback. The reformers are disheartened. Their leader, President Mohammed Chatami, has failed to live up their expectations.>>
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