The Iranian Parliament approved, on Wednesday September 20, a bill discussed for several months which strengthens sanctions against women who do not wear the compulsory veil in public places, according to official media.
“The deputies approved the implementation of the bill on “hijab and chastity” for a trial period of three years,” indicated the official IRNA agency, while the government raised its tone, these recent months, against the growing number of women going out bareheaded, especially in big cities.
This bill toughens penalties for anyone prosecuted for violating the strict dress code imposed on women, one of the ideological pillars of the Islamic Republic.
It also provides for financial penalties for “promoting nudity” or “mocking the hijab” in the media and on social networks, as well as fines and bans on leaving the country for business owners whose employees do not wear a veil.
A law adopted a year after the death of Mahsa Amini
“Any person who” commits the crime of “not wearing a veil or wearing inappropriate clothing in cooperation with governments, media, groups or organizations foreign or hostile” to the Islamic Republic, “or in an organized manner, will be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of the fourth degree”, i.e. between five and ten years, the bill provides.
To become law, the bill must be approved by the Council of Guardians of the Constitution.
This text is adopted four days after the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, who died on September 16, 2022 after her arrest by the moral police for allegedly violating the dress code. This death triggered a vast protest movement in the country.
