Women could be fined up to £57,000 for breaking Iran’s new hijab rules, ultra-hardliner warns
- Islamic Republic says laws are less aggressive ways of enforcing strict hijab rules
- Comes amid nationwide protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022
Women living under the Islamic Republic of Iran could be fined up to £57,000 for defying the government’s new hijab laws, which require them to wear the religious head covering at all times.
Iran’s legislator and member of the Cultural Commission of Iran’s parliament, Hojjat ol-Eslam Hossein Jalali, said on Sunday that penalties for breaking the laws include revocation of driver’s licenses and passports, or a ban on celebrity and social media use of the Internet. media influencers and bloggers in addition to the fine.
Jalali added that these laws apply to women who disobey hijab rules while driving vehicles, dining in restaurants, schools and universities, as well as on the streets and other public areas. reports Iran International.
Hardline lawmakers and policy makers have been looking at alternative ways to enforce the once brutal hijab enforcement rules after the failure of their “morality policing” method of cracking down on lawbreakers.
It comes on the heels of Mahsa Amini’s death in September, which sparked widespread nationwide protests.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets with members of Iran’s Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution to discuss alternative plans to enforce hijab legislation
A newspaper with a cover photo of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by Iran’s vice police, is seen in Tehran, Iran September 18, 2022
In the past, offenders were released after paying small monetary fines as bail, but would receive longer sentences and lashes if they had a previous criminal record.
Any trace of participating in public resistance to compulsory hijab would have serious consequences, including prosecution and imprisonment.
However, the vice police have largely disappeared from the streets because the government was afraid of infuriating people.
According to Jalali, the plan was finalized after “300 meetings with the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution and the National Security Council.”
In December, Jalali told Iranian media about the government’s alternative plans to punish those who break the law.
He said: “It is possible to inform non-hijab wearers in the form of a text message that they are not adhering to the hijab rule and that they must respect the law.”
Last year, the government had reacted with deadly force to nearly three months of unrest as it attempted to quell one of the biggest challenges facing the Islamist regime since the 1979 revolution.
Amini, 22, was visiting the Iranian capital with her family when she was detained on September 13 by the police unit responsible for enforcing Iran’s strict dress code for women, including wearing the headscarf in public
The activist news agency HRANA said that as of November 29, at least 459 protesters had been killed in the unrest, including 64 minors, as security forces tried to quell widespread dissent.
The hijab became compulsory for women in public and girls over the age of nine after the 1979 revolution.
Jalali explained in December that enforcement of hijab and chastity laws would not be waived, only that methods of enforcement would become less violent and intrusive.
“Going away from the hijab means a withdrawal of the Islamic Republic,” Jalali added.