Status: 04/03/2023 5:42 p.m
In protest against the regime and despite high penalties, many Iranian women ignore the headscarf requirement. The government now wants to control the requirement more strictly at schools and universities – and is announcing even tougher penalties.
The government in Iran wants to enforce the headscarf requirement in schools and universities more strictly. This was announced by the Ministry of Education. Pupils who do not wear the headscarf as prescribed should not be allowed to take part in classes. The statement did not say how exactly compliance with the headscarf requirement is to be monitored.
Many ignore the headscarf requirement
The regulation is not new in Iran. However, since the mass protests began last fall, many women and girls have been demonstratively ignoring the headscarf requirement – including in schools and universities. In September, 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini died in police custody after being arrested by the vice squad. She is said to have worn her headscarf improperly. This had sparked anti-regime protests across the country. Many women and girls had set fire to their headscarves in the streets.
Since the beginning of the Persian New Year around two weeks ago, the Iranian government has announced several times that it will punish people who disregard Islamic dress codes more severely. Now the Ministry of Education has followed suit.
Iran’s interior ministry is calling on citizens to take vigilante justice against women without a veil
Katharina Willinger, ARD Istanbul, daily topics 11:20 p.m., April 2, 2023
“Persecuted Without Mercy”
At the weekend, the Islamic Republic’s head of justice, Gholamhossein Mohseni Edschei, declared: “Removing the veil is tantamount to hostility towards our values.” Those “who commit such abnormal acts will be punished” and “persecuted without mercy”. Edschei left open what penalties the women have to reckon with.
Last week, the interior ministry described the headscarf as “one of the civilizing foundations of the Iranian nation” and appealed to citizens to confront unveiled women.
Under Islamic Sharia, introduced in 1979, women are required to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothing to hide their figure. Violators face fines or arrest. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said on state television on Saturday that the headscarf is required by law in the Islamic Republic. A video had previously been released showing a man throwing a cup of yogurt at two women. The women had not covered their hair at all or not completely.