Senator Fatima Payman has been slammed for defending Iran‘s treatment of women.

The independent WA Senator gave an interview to the state-owned propaganda outlet Press TV at an event about Iranian women at Western Sydney University on Saturday.

Senator Payman, who was born and raised in neighbouring Afghanistan before moving to Australia with her family in 2003, gushed about the ‘incredible place that Iran is’. 

‘Allowing for women to participate in the workforce to ensure that they have a voice and their voices are heard, they’re involved in the democratic process,’ she said.

‘Realities that we’re not privy to living here and listening to the propaganda that we receive from very single-sided organisations with a specific agenda.’

However, a United Nations fact-finding report, published in September last year, found that women and girls still ‘live in a system that relegates them to “second class citizens”.’

The regime’s infamous morality police ensure women always cover themselves with a hijab, with those who disobey being subjected to imprisonment, beatings and even, on some occasions, death in police custody.

A tabled ‘Hijab and Chastity’ bill, which was paused by the President in December, could see women face up to 15 years in jail if they dared expose their hair, forearms or lower legs.

Condemnation of Senator Payman’s glowing review of the middle East theocracy was swift and brutal.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian-British academic who was detained in Iran on charges of espionage between 2018 to 2020, branded Senator Payman’s comment’s ‘nonsense’. 

‘Iran has no “democratic process,” least of all one which women are allowed to participate in,’ Ms Moore-Gilbert said.

‘You should know this – I saw you sitting in the Senate enquiry into Iran’s human rights abuses just 2 years ago. 

‘Why agree to be interviewed by Press TV, English language propaganda arm of the Islamic Republic known for broadcasting false confession videos and forced interviews with prisoners before they are executed?’

Ms Moore-Gilbert bemoaned the ‘irony’ of Senator’s Payman’s support for Iran, given she is from Afghanistan and must know what it is like to be treated like a second class citizen as a woman. 

‘To what end, Senator?,’ Ms Moore-Gilbert asked.

‘Are there really that many votes to be found in cosying up to a brutal authoritarian regime like Iran’s?’ 

Kurdish-Iranian national Jina Mahsa Amini, 22, died in police in police custody in 2022 after being arrested for allegedly not wearing a headscarf, with her death prompting a wave of global protests with the hashtag #WomenLifeFreedom.

At the time, Senator Payman released a statment saying ‘We stand with Iranian women and girls in their struggle for equality’. 

But Ms Moore-Gilbert could not reconcile her previous support for women’s rights in Iran with her recent comments.

‘I am genuinely baffled by this step from someone who in the past had expressed sympathy and solidarity for the people of Iran and their struggle,’ Ms Moore-Gilbert added. 

The event, which was billed as an opportunity for Iranian women to ‘challenge Western narratives’, received a glowing report from Press TV.

Press TV is banned by many Western governments, including the UK, but not Australia.

Senator Payman was elected as a Labor senator but left the party last year over its position on the Israel-Gaza conflict.  

Daily Mail Australia approached Senator Payman for comment.