Page 34 IRAN (CONTINUED) Ending Sex Discrimination in the Law EQUALITY NOW – BEIJING+25 Note: Zina is defined as illicit sex outside of marriage. Livat, tafkhiz and musaheqeh are defined as various forms of homosexual sexual activity either between men or women. Hadd is a punishment for certain crimes as specified under Shari’a. Diya are fines imposed under Shari’a for certain crimes. Article 20 of the Constitution of Iran: All citizens of the country, both men and women, equally enjoy the protection of the law and enjoy all human, political, economic, social and cultural rights, in conformity with Islamic criteria. However, all provisions of the Constitution can be superseded by Islamic principles as per Article 4 of the Constitution: All civil, penal financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria. This principle applies absolutely and generally to all articles of the Constitution as well as to all other laws and regulations, and the fuqaha’ of the Guardian Council are judges in this matter. PAKISTAN The QanuneShahadat Order, 1984 (Law of Evidence): Article 17. Competence and number of witnesses. (1) The competence of a person to testify, and the number of witnesses required in any case shall be determined in accordance with the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah. ( 2) Unless otherwise provided in any law relating to the enforcement of Hudood or any other special law, (a) in matters pertaining to financial or future obligations, if reduced to writing, the instrument shall be attested by two men, or one man and two women, so that one may remind the other, if necessary, and evidence shall be led accordingly; and Take Action – Pakistan President Arif Alvi President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan President’s Secretariat Aiwan-E-Sadr Islamabad PAKISTAN Email: info@pmo.gov.pk pakistan@un.int (Mission to the UN in New York) Twitter: @ArifAlvi (b) in all other matters, the Court may accept, or act on, the testimony of one man or one woman or such other evidence as the circumstances of the case may warrant. Note: Article 25 of the Constitution of Pakistan: (1) All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law. (2) There shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex.