Iran’s National Security Council has postponed the implementation of a new hijab law. The law proposed stricter penalties for women and girls not fully covering their hair, forearms, and lower legs, including fines, prison sentences up to 15 years, and mandatory reporting by businesses.
Iran Pauses Crackdown On Strict Hijab Laws
Why In News
- Iran’s National Security Council has postponed the implementation of a new hijab law. The law proposed stricter penalties for women and girls not fully covering their hair, forearms, and lower legs, including fines, prison sentences up to 15 years, and mandatory reporting by businesses.
What Does The Bill Propose?
- Iran’s Parliament approved the bill in September 2023. The “hijab and chastity law” in Iran proposes stricter penalties for girls and women who do not fully cover their hair, forearms, or lower legs, including fines, prison sentences of up to 15 years.
- It levies such harsh punishments that Pezeshkian himself had rejected the proposed penalties. The law envisages fines of $800 for first offenses, $1,500 for second offenses, and prison terms of up to 15 years for third offenses.
- Celebrities and public figures could have 8% of their net worth confiscated, while businesses face closure and fines for serving women not wearing a headscarf.
- Under the law, foreign nationals would have been allowed to work as “informers” for reporting women not wearing the hijab. Business owners and taxi drivers not reporting uncovered women were to face monetary fines.
What All Happened
- Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, condemned the law. The group accused Iranian authorities of “seeking to entrench the already suffocating system of repression.”
- During his presidential campaign earlier this year, Pezeshkian voiced his disapproval of the state’s treatment of women regarding the hijab. He pledged to respect personal freedoms, a message that resonated with younger Iranians, frustrated by years of government-imposed restrictions.
- Masoumeh Ebtekar, a former vice-president for women and family affairs, also criticised the law, calling it “an indictment of half the Iranian population.”
- The hijab debate intensified after the arrest of Parastoo Ahmadi, a popular singer, last week. Ahmadi performed a virtual concert on YouTube without wearing a hijab. The broadcast quickly went viral, and her subsequent arrest, along with her bandmates, sparked public outrage. Authorities released them a day later following widespread backlash.
- Tensions around the hijab have remained high since the 2022 protests triggered by the death of Mahsa “Zhina” Amini, a young Kurdish woman who died in police custody after allegedly violating the dress code. Since then, many young Iranian women have openly defied the hijab rules, challenging the government’s authority.
