Amnesty International: The Iranian Government Must Be Held Accountable for Suppressing Opponents of Mandatory Hijab

On Wednesday, August 4, Amnesty International called for an end to the suppression of opponents of mandatory hijab by the Iranian government and urged the international community to hold the officials of the Islamic Republic accountable in this regard. In a statement, the international organization urged Iranian officials to recognize the rights of equality, privacy, and freedom of expression, belief, and religion for women and girls, and to "stop" their actions against them. Agnes Callamard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, also suggested that the global community should go beyond issuing statements and diplomatic actions and hold the officials of the Islamic Republic accountable for the "widespread and systematic violation of the human rights of women and girls" through legal means. According to this statement, Iranian officials have intensified the "suppression" of women and girls opposing the mandatory hijab through "police and punitive methods," leading to severe violations of their social, economic, cultural, and political rights. Amnesty International noted the resumption of the morality police's activities to enforce mandatory hijab and reported on social media posts regarding the "violent" actions of security forces against women in Tehran and Rasht. The statement reviewed the Islamic Republic's methods of dealing with opponents of mandatory hijab, mentioning the sending of over one million warning text messages to unveiled drivers in the past three months. Amnesty International added that many unveiled women have been deprived of their right to education, banking services, and public transportation, and courts have sentenced opponents of mandatory hijab to work in morgues and cleaning services in government centers in "humiliating" rulings. A collection of human rights activists also stated in a statement that the Islamic Republic's reliance on mandatory hijab laws aims to "focus on humiliating women" and described the return of the morality police as "extremely concerning." Amnesty International viewed the "intensification of repression" as contradictory to the "inconsistent" statements of Iranian government officials regarding the resumption of the morality police's activities and deemed the previous claims of the Islamic Republic's officials about the closure of the morality police as "suspicious." Mostafa Tajzadeh, a political activist in prison, recently stated in a message from prison that the renewed activities of the morality police were a result of the approval of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, holding Ali Khamenei responsible for the "dire consequences" of it. Furthermore, Amnesty International, in part of its statement, described the intensification of repression against opponents of mandatory hijab as a reflection of the Iranian government's position in "tragically disregarding" the human rights of women. According to this statement, the intensification of repression against women advocating for optional hijab is also a sign of the government's "inevitable effort" to "consolidate dominance and power" over those who bravely stood against "decades of oppression and inequality" during the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests. Amnesty International also referred to the draft of the "Bill for the Support of Chastity and Hijab" as a 70-article plan by the government to enforce mandatory hijab and assessed it as a means to intensify "discrimination" and "deprivation" of opponents of mandatory hijab from their human rights, including social and economic rights. This bill, aimed at countering opponents of mandatory hijab, has been presented by the judiciary to the Islamic Consultative Assembly and will become law after being approved by the Assembly and the Guardian Council. New details about the "Chastity and Hijab" bill; women, media affiliates, and shopkeepers are at risk of accusations due to the publication of images of some employees without hijab; the "Taqcheh" platform is under pressure from government agencies. One of the rulings related to hijab was violated; the Supreme Court: the court's reasoning is incorrect. A collection of human rights activists reacted to recent rulings: the Islamic Republic focuses on humiliating women.