The new hijab and chastity bill, which a UN human rights agency claims is meant to “suppress women into total submission,” carries a 10-year prison sentence for protesters.
Iran’s parliament recently enacted a divisive new law that threatens women who disobey the nation’s headscarf requirements with up to 10 years in prison.
The proposed regulation aims to identify people who “promote nudity [or] indecency” or “mock” the rules in a virtual or non-virtual place, as well as tougher punishments for women who disobey the rigorous dress code.
According to UN human rights experts, it is “tantamount to gender apartheid” with the goal of “total submission” for women.
The Iranian Parliament has significantly restricted access to women’s bodies by passing this legislation. Iran was already an open prison for Iranian women, but by giving those enforcing it serious authority, they have increased the harshness with which they will punish them, according to Iranian human rights attorney Hossein Raeesi.
The “bill to support the family by promoting the culture of chastity and the hijab” was put to a vote with 152 in favor, 34 against, and seven abstentions, according to the judiciary’s Mizan news agency. It will be valid for the first three years of the trial term.
Final approval of the law will be required from Iran’s Guardian Council, a significant organization that reviews legislation and regulates elections. Its 12 members are men, and Ahmad Jannati, a 97-year-old cleric who has served as its chair since 1988, just won reelection.
Repeat “violators” (those with more than four infractions) of the rigorous dress code and those who dress “inappropriately” risk up to 10 years in prison. The bill also states that women who display bodily parts “lower than the neck, higher than the ankles, or higher than the forearms” or who wear “revealing or tight clothing” will be subject to harsh penalties.
Four days after Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been jailed for reportedly wearing the Islamic headscarf inappropriately, passed away while in custody, the hijab bill was approved.
In the week following Amini’s death on September 16, 2022, hundreds were reportedly slain in rallies around the nation, according to human rights organizations.
“Iran’s Guardian Council, the Shoraye Negahban, has given its approval to whatever that the Supreme Leader endorses. Therefore, in this instance, the parliament’s adoption of the measure makes it final, according to Rana*, a Tehran-based Iranian protester who was apprehended and questioned by the “morality police” in August.
“Since the law has already been put into practice on the ground, we are not waiting for the council to provide its approval. Like always, women are being watched, harassed, detained, and questioned.