As a sign of protest, many women in Iran have not been wearing headscarves for months. Now President Raisi has again threatened consequences should women disobey the rule.
In Iran’s metropolises, women are increasingly taking off their headscarves in public – in violation of applicable dress codes. The country’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, has now issued a sharp warning: “The spread of removing the hijab will definitely be stopped,” said the arch-conservative cleric.
He also accused those women of being “trained by foreigners” and thus pursuing the “goals of hostile governments.”
Up to 15 years imprisonment for contempt
The renewed threatening gesture follows before the vote on the penal reform of the headscarf requirement. This had only been drastically tightened in July: Among other things, the draft law provides for up to 15 years in prison for disregarding the Islamic dress code.
Parliament is expected to vote on it in the next two months. The controversial reform is a direct response to the wave of protests unleashed in autumn 2022 after the death of the Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody. Previously, she had been arrested for violating the dress code.
In Iran, the headscarf requirement has been enshrined in law for more than 40 years and is considered one of the ideological pillars. Many Iranian women demonstratively do without their headscarves to send a symbolic sign of freedom.