Channel 4 - Divorce Iranian Style

Tues 28 Aug 2007 10pm This 1998 documentary takes an intimate look at proceedings in a tiny, chaotic Iranian divorce court. Here, even when natural justice seems to be on the side of the women, the law is emphatically on the side of the men. Grounds for divorce According to the Iranian system of Islamic law, when a man wants a divorce, he can leave his wife at any time. If a woman wants to split from her husband, however, the only legal grounds on which she can petition are a husband s insanity, impotence or inability to provide for her financially. Adultery (or indeed having another wife), physical abuse and mental cruelty are not seen as sufficient grounds for legal separation and any woman hoping to escape such a situation faces an uphill struggle.