Iranian authorities are preparing to crack down on those who promote removing the head covering as a form of protest. Iran’s deputy attorney general was quoted as saying on Saturday that those who encourage women to remove the hijab will have no right to appeal any conviction.
“The crime of promoting unveiling will be dealt with in the criminal court whose decisions are final and unappealable,” the semi-official Mehr News quoted deputy attorney general Ali Jamadi as saying.
“The punishment for the crime of promoting and encouraging others to remove the hijab is much heavier than the crime of removing the hijab itself, because it is one of the clear examples of encouraging corruption,” he added.
Jamadi gave no explanation for what might constitute promoting the removal of the hijab nor did he specify the punishment.
A statement on the police website on Saturday said action would be taken “from today” over violations in public places, in cars, and other “sites where hijab is sometimes removed.”
“In this context, technology will be used for the smart identification of people who break the law,” it said.
“Removing hijab is considered a crime, and the police deal with social anomalies within the framework of the law,” the statement quoted Security Police chief Hassan Mofakhami as saying.
“People who break the law are responsible for their actions and should be held accountable for their behavior,” he added.
The anti-hijab protests appear to be easing off as the government cracks down on organized demonstrations. They’ve arrested nearly 20,000 people and executed four with another 16 already condemned to die. But the reason the protests have slacked off is that almost all of the leaders — the people protesters follow in the streets — have been arrested and many have already been sentenced to long prison terms.
Iran has been rocked with anti-hijab protests since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who was arrested by the morality police for not wearing the hijab in public. The unjust killing of Amini prompted unrest across the country, with men and women alike, coming forward to overthrow the existing regime and reject its laws.
Despite a harsh crackdown on such women, many are still seen defying the mandatory hijab rule. Videos of women getting harassed by pro-hijab advocates have flooded social media ever since the protests began last year.
The flashpoint has already occurred. The revolution is underway. Millions of women are refusing to obey and submit. Blood is not being spilled — yet — but the rule of the Iranian mullahs is over. The only thing they have to keep themselves in power are guns. And while that will likely allow them to stay in power for a while, the Iranian people — especially the women — will never go back to the way it was before.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member