As opposition to the Iranian regime’s hijab laws persists even though protests have largely died down, the passage of a new hijab law sparked a wave of frustration and condemnation across Iran.
A Draconian Law: Iran's New "Chastity and Hijab" Legislation Sparks Outrage - Iran News Update https://t.co/c3pLwmDFCJ
— Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay (@NazaninAJ) December 4, 2024
The legislation, named the "Hijab and Chastity Bill,” has been passed by both the Islamic Consultative Assembly, which is Iran’s parliament, and the country’s Guardian Council and is now waiting to be signed and enforced by key officials of the Islamic Republic, including Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, who ran on a campaign promise to “reduce pressure on women,” particularly on the issue of hijab in Iran.
The law not only builds on existing strict regulations from the Islamic Republic’s Islamic dress code that is already in place but also introduces a new set of social and economic penalties against those found guilty of violating the regime’s hijab laws.
For instance, Article 49 of the bill states that individuals found guilty of violating the law will face hefty fines, with initial offenses incurring penalties ranging from 20 million tomans (or 285 US dollars) to 80 million tomans (or 1,140 US dollars) while subsequent violations will attract higher fines between 80 million tomans and 165 million tomans (or 2,350 US dollars).
Those unable to pay the hefty fines will encounter significant restrictions regarding public services, such as being blocked from renewing their passports, registering their vehicles, getting exit permits, getting their impounded vehicles from being released, and even acquiring or renewing their driving licenses.
The “Chastity and Hijab” law is not about faith; it’s about control and fear. It's time for the world to unite and demand an end to these draconian measures.#StopOppressionInIran #WeSupportMEK
— shahin Afrozeh (@ShahinAfrozeh) December 3, 2024
Many Iranians criticized these fines and accused the government of introducing them so that they could exploit Iranians, especially women, and use the money extracted from these fines to fund Iran’s proxies, such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, abroad.
Another part of the bill that caught the attention of many Iranians is the clause stating that it allows “organizing volunteer groups for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice, composed of citizens of the Islamic Republic or migrants or foreigners who hold official residency permits from the Ministry of the Interior, etc.”
Many Iranians saw the clause as granting “the right of Afghan citizens to intervene in the dress choices of Iranian women” and strongly protested against it, given the ongoing anti-Afghan sentiment being spread in Iran.
Fascist religious cesspit. Women must be free.
— Bull's-eye (@RifleRangeshoot) December 4, 2024
However, some activists, journalists, and lawyers in Iran said that focusing on this specific clause and seeing the bill’s discriminatory nature as more of a racial issue was wrong.
“They probably said: The plan is to go on with the existing divisions in society for a while, escalate hatred of Afghans, and then give foreign nationals the right to tell Iranian women what to wear. The public will focus on this clause and ignore the rest of the dirt we’ve called a law.” Iranian writer and journalist Hamed Siasi Rad said.
“Reducing the fundamental attack on women’s rights and gender apartheid in Iran to a racial issue is a trap that should not be fallen into,” human rights activist and lawyer Sina Yousefi said.
Even if the head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, has called for the “Hijab and Chastity Bill” to be passed, neither Pezeshkian nor his administration has publicly addressed it so far and whether he would sign the bill or not remains unclear. As per the country’s Civil Code, the President has five days to sign the bill into law, or the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly will order the law’s publication.
Some sources indicate that Pezeshkian plans to meet with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to suspend the law's implementation. Many of Pezeshkian’s supporters urged the government to refuse to sign the bill into law as he promised during his campaign not to let women be harassed for not wearing the hijab.
