BBC Persian TV’s Enayat Fani interviews Mahnaz Afkhami who looks back on the advancing of women’s rights in Iran, elaborating on the Family Protection Law. “Iran’s Family Protection Law which was ratified some forty years ago is still far ahead of the laws of other Middle Eastern countries,” says Afkhami, adding that the first thing Ayatollah Khomeini did after the 1979 Revolution, even before drafting the constitution or forming a government, was negating this law. “Iran is one of the most backward countries in terms of rights and laws”, she notes, “yet, in terms of women’s roles as individuals or independent groups, this country is one of the most developed ones.”