Free Tibet Campaign IRAN Gunning for the veil Women lead the resistance When Kobra Tehmasbi speaks, men in Camp Ashraf listen. Women opposing the austere Islamic regime in Tehran have found inspiration in the NCR's charismatic leader, Maryam Rajavi, whose husband is the NLA's senior commander. Rajavi's dedication stems from her own experience of repression. Gender roles in the camp differ from elsewhere in the Middle East. The NLA receives most of its backing from Iraq and has five similar camps.
Troops train in the desert and await the opportunity to 'liberate' their country.
Yet despite its assertions of support for democracy and freedom, the NCR remains a controversial and totalitarian group in many people's eyes, and has formal relations only with Iraq. Most of the prisoners have been convicted of offences such as hooliganism, violence and theft. Doctors refuse to enter the villages because of risks to their health. Troops who guard the enclosures operate on week-long shifts to avoid excessive exposure to radiation. Red Pepper, No 39 Two steps back A ban on airing criticisms of female genital mutilation on government-owned television and radio in Gambia has stirred widespread opposition from women activists.