Continued Criticism of the 'Hijab and Chastity' Bill; A Lawyer Calls It 'Harmful and Horrific'

In response to the amended 'Hijab and Chastity' bill in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, a lawyer stated: 'This bill is confrontational, not interactive, and it blatantly violates human rights and freedoms.' Hossein Bayat, a senior lawyer, emphasized that 'this bill is incompatible with what is happening in reality and is unlikely to succeed.' He noted that legal principles, theoretical foundations, educational, sociological, and psychological considerations have not been adhered to in this bill, suggesting that, as in the past, the representatives' focus is more on preserving the ideological identity of the political system than addressing societal issues and problems. Bayat pointed out that this legal provision is one of the most corrupting laws passed in the Islamic Republic, stating to Iran Watch: 'The legislator should not legislate with a vindictive and purely ideological approach. This law sends a message to the people that you are not safe even in your home lobby or inside your car, and we can file a case against you anywhere under the pretext of not observing hijab and confront you with state and governmental authorities. This law has such harmful and horrific conditions.' A former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly also told the ILNA news agency: 'The current discourse regarding hijab and similar bills not only does not help solve issues but worsens conditions and turns a cultural and social phenomenon into a political and security one.' Jalal Mirzaei clarified: 'If you make an issue political and security-oriented and then keep addressing it, that is not an achievement. The main issue in today's society is livelihood; a large part of our society has fallen below the poverty line, our foreign policy files are complicated, and in this situation, exacerbating a topic and creating turmoil around it is not in the country's interest.' Meanwhile, the 'Tejarat News' website also published a note examining Article 14 of the Hijab and Chastity bill regarding the duties of the Ministry of Health in this regard, stating: 'According to this bill, the Ministry of Health must arrange the administrative layout in the headquarters of hospitals, universities, and other centers related to this ministry based on maintaining the limits of Sharia privacy between male and female employees, and the provision of medical services will also be conditional on observing hijab.' According to the Hijab and Chastity bill, which has recently been referred by the Judicial and Legal Commission of the Assembly to the Assembly's leadership and its text has also been published in recent days, punishments ranging from imprisonment and exit bans to fines have been established for individuals who do not comply with mandatory hijab and businesses that interfere in women's hijab matters. This bill assigns duties to certain ministries and organizations, each of which is obliged to implement the provisions of the bill. On Tuesday night, a member of the Assembly's Legal Commission announced in a television program, interpreting various clauses of the Hijab and Chastity bill, that fines of 7 to 8 million tomans for 'bad hijab and bad clothing' would be imposed in the first stage, stating: 'In later stages, much heavier penalties are included in this law.' Naghdali emphasized that the Hijab and Chastity law distinguishes between celebrities, organized bad hijab, business owners, vehicles, and ordinary individuals. Despite all the strictness, numerous reports of civil disobedience by women in Iran are published daily on social media.