The End of the Honeymoon for Optional Hijab
The End of the Honeymoon for Optional Hijab: Crackdown on Unveiled Women to Intensify. While some believe that the issue of mandatory hijab in Iran is nearly over and official bodies have quietly softened their stance and will gradually accept the situation of optional hijab in the streets, there are concerns about a harsher crackdown on unveiled women.
The Attorney General has announced that the hijab issue will be resolved by the end of December, while voices from within the conservative parliament suggest intensifying actions against improperly or unveiled women.
The Attorney General stated that the parliament and the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution are working and studying the hijab issue, with results expected in the next 15 days. These decisions should be made with prudence.
Intensified Prudence
The prevailing belief is that there is no end to retreat; one step back equals ten steps forward for the opposing side. Comments from within the parliament and the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution so far not only do not indicate compromise or retreat from the hijab issue but also show a tendency to resort to other methods of control. Methods that move from coercive and police-like approaches to seemingly less violent but more impactful measures on people’s lives.
One parliament member stated that upon reviewing, it was found that the initial penalties under Article 637 of the Islamic Penal Code regarding the lack of adherence to modesty and hijab are not suitable for today’s times and are ineffective. Attention to the necessity of making the law effective in deterrence was required so that penalties could be set that are deterrent and lead individuals towards behavioral correction.
The representative from Babol also stated that a decisive approach against cultural norm-breakers who have embraced nudity should be taken more than before, and there should be no retreat from enforcing the modesty and hijab law that has been neglected for 17 years.
Social Deprivation Penalties Await the Unveiled
The recurring theme in recent statements is one thing: social deprivations. Another parliament member, Ali Asghar Anabestani, who was involved in a controversy for slapping a traffic police officer, stated that since hijab is a law and some have violated this law, service providers do not need legislation or directives to deny services to these individuals.
Therefore, those who provide services do not have the right to serve those who do not observe hijab. I believe the unveiled should be deprived of receiving social services.
Zohreh Sadat Lajvardi, another parliament member, made similar comments. If there are shortcomings in our laws regarding hijab, they should be addressed. Perhaps this penalty will only lead to social deprivation rather than judicial action, meaning it would be considered a violation rather than a crime, resulting in social deprivation without the need for coercive measures. However, it’s hard to speak definitively on this as there are legal gaps.
The new Islamic Penal Code, approved in 2013, removed the definition of social rights and only addressed twelve instances of social rights in Article 26, as follows:
- Running for presidential elections, the Assembly of Experts, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and city and village councils.
- Membership in the Guardian Council, the Expediency Discernment Council, or the Cabinet, and holding the position of Vice President.
- Holding the presidency of the judiciary, Attorney General, presidency of the Supreme Court, and presidency of the Administrative Justice Court.
- Membership in associations, councils, parties, and groups whose members are elected by law or by the people.
- Membership in juries and boards of trustees and dispute resolution councils.
- Employment as a managing editor or editor-in-chief of mass media.
- Employment in all governmental agencies, including the three branches and their affiliated organizations and companies, state broadcasting, armed forces, and other institutions under the leadership’s supervision, municipalities, and institutions tasked with public services, and those agencies where the law’s applicability requires explicit mention or naming.
- Employment as a lawyer or holding positions in official document registration offices and marriage and divorce offices.
- Being elected to the position of guardian, trustee, overseer, or manager of public endowments.
- Being elected to the position of arbitrator or expert in official bodies.
- Using state emblems and honorary titles.
- Establishing or being a board member in state, cooperative, and private companies, or registering a commercial name or educational, research, cultural, and scientific institution.
Mandatory Hijab is the Demand of a Minority
A few days ago, a group of fewer than 50 women from Shahr-e Rey gathered at Shah Abdol-Azim to protest the hijab situation. All these women wore black chadors, most had veils covering their faces, and they held placards and chanted slogans.
Abdolreza Davari, a former media advisor to Ahmadinejad, tweeted an analysis stating that the population of women over 15 in Shahr-e Rey is 76,000, and these women do not even make up one percent of this population. He calculated that out of every 10,000 people, only two participated in this sit-in.
On Thursday, December 1st, a gathering of women and girls was held at Shiroudi Stadium called ‘Women for Iran,’ which might be better described as the instrumental use of veiled women to maintain power. This gathering, held under the pretext of Nurse’s Day and the birth of Hazrat Zainab, was more about showcasing the power of veiled women against other women.
The style of eulogizing and the excitement it stirred indicated a challenge, stirring the emotions of veiled women against the unveiled ones who have recently taken over the streets.
Although this gathering was large and enthusiastic, it should be noted that women on the opposite side never had the opportunity or permission to gather and show their strength. Those who are more visible on the streets of Tehran are, in fact, the opposing spectrum, and with such displays of power, they are not considered at all by the authorities.
Some say this gathering, alongside the sit-in by some chador-wearing women at the Abdol-Azim shrine protesting the hijab situation and murmurs of not retreating from the mandatory hijab law, is a prelude to the return of the morality police and the implementation of past policies under the guise of veiled women’s demands to deal with the unveiled and continue the misguided path in the name of religion for Iran.