Criticism from the Parliamentary Research Center on the 'Protection of Chastity and Hijab' Plan

The newspaper Etemad dedicated the headline and front page photo of its September 8 issue to the press conference held by Hassan Rouhani on Saturday, stating: 'Ahmadinejad, elections, house arrest' were the three main themes of the president's press conference. Sadegh Zibakalam wrote in a note for Etemad: 'The most complete and least flawed part of the president's remarks on Saturday was his discussion about house arrest, where he managed to provide a more accurate depiction of the government's situation and the executive branch's willingness, indicating that while not forgetting the issue, it currently lacks the capacity to resolve it.' The newspaper Qanoon described Rouhani's remarks in the press conference, including his response to a question about the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, as 'a diplomatic response to electoral promises.' It also noted: 'On the day Rouhani entered the field with laughter and jokes, many government-supporting journalists left the session upset and dissatisfied because organized individuals did not allow questions to be asked of Rouhani during the president's press conferences.' Newspapers close to the principlists focused on other parts of Rouhani's remarks. The newspaper Resalat quoted the president stating: 'We must prevent the infiltration and influence of the enemy.' The newspaper Kayhan also quoted Rouhani saying: 'We have not signed anything to send to the parliament for approval.' The newspaper Shargh reported on the criticism from the Parliamentary Research Center regarding the 'Protection of Chastity and Hijab' plan, stating: 'Warnings and record-keeping in the case of improper hijab, educational courses for women with un-Islamic attire, monetary fines, and penalties' are just parts of a plan that 'the Parliamentary Research Center has rejected in its expert review and has analyzed and evaluated section by section.' The newspaper Javan reported, citing the head of Iran's customs, on '420 million dollars worth of car imports in the first five months of the current year and the possibility of changing the 'criteria for car imports.' The newspaper Arman reported on the hospitalization of Mohammad Reza Shajarian at Kowsar Hospital in Tehran, stating that 'the master of Iranian singing is on a hospital bed' and is 'banned from visitors.' The newspaper Shargh dedicated its front page photo to Mohammad Reza Aref, a reformist figure, quoting him as saying: 'I will negotiate for the qualification of reformists.' In an interview with Shargh, Mohammad Reza Aref emphasized that 'I have had discussions with friends and officials, and God willing, I will continue these discussions in the coming months,' stating that in these meetings he has consulted with various individuals in the Guardian Council, executive officials, and others who can play a role in solving problems. This reformist candidate for the 2013 presidential election emphasized that 'one of the problems we faced in the last one or two elections was almost a severed relationship with the elders and those involved in the elections. This relationship must be established.' Zahra Shojaei, a reformist figure and former Deputy for Women's Affairs during Mohammad Khatami's presidency, stated in an interview with Etemad: 'Rouhani's hands are not free to fulfill all his promises.' This reformist figure emphasized that 'the government has faced almost no success in domestic politics,' stating: 'At the beginning of the government's formation, the president announced moderation as his approach in domestic politics. Given this approach, it was expected that there would be efforts to create an environment where all parties and groups from different factions could enter the arena, and this action would manifest in practice. However, since the cries and voices of the hardliners were louder and the patience and calmness of the reformists were greater, it seemed that the reformists were very satisfied with the current situation, and therefore, since they did not express their demands, it led to the determination of the middle ground of demands being more in favor of the opposing faction to the reformists.' According to Zahra Shojaei, Rouhani's government 'had to consider the hardliners a bit more to calm them down. Therefore, I believe the government's inclination from the moderate line in domestic politics had less tendency towards reformism and, in fact, became closer to the principlist current.' The newspaper Javan focused on 'the minister of intelligence's apology to the people and the leader,' reporting: 'Mahmoud Alavi, in a correction, apologized to the Supreme Leader and the people, correcting a quote made by the leader in the television program Negah Yek.' The newspaper Shahre Vahdat reported, citing the head of the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization, that '200,000 historical objects are gathering dust in the National Museum's storerooms.' Masoud Soltani-Far criticized the state of the National Museum, stating: 'The National Museum of the country, which should be a mother museum, has only one hall measuring 2,500 square meters, while the other sections and floors are used as storage.' The three main themes of Rouhani's press conference were the previous government, upcoming elections, and house arrest. The newspaper Etemad dedicated the headline and front page photo of its September 8 issue to the press conference held by Hassan Rouhani on Saturday, stating: 'Ahmadinejad, elections, house arrest' were the three main themes of the president's press conference. According to this newspaper, 'On Saturday, in the sixth day of Government Week, Hassan Rouhani came to meet with journalists to discuss the performance of a government that has now reached the halfway point. Two years that, in his words, he proudly took the burden of responsibility from the people.' In interpreting the President of the Hope and Prudence Government, it can be summarized in one sentence: efforts that were all aimed at creating peace and stability in various parts of society. Etemad quoted Rouhani as saying: 'My government is a revival government,' and in the past two years, 'we have tried not to create new wounds in domestic politics.' According to this newspaper, the Iranian president, referring to 'the massive debts of unlawful subsidies and unaccounted housing projects inherited from the previous government,' also spoke about the upcoming elections for the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Assembly of Experts, stating: 'In the elections, I will implement the constitution, whether they are happy or unhappy.' Etemad evaluated the content of Rouhani's press conference on Saturday, stating that in this session there were no longer any 'buts' and 'ifs.' The 'buts' and 'ifs' that had been tied to the possibility or impossibility of reaching a 'deal' until the fifth press conference of the eleventh government have given way to the next two years. Two years that will present the first test of the government in holding elections at the end of this year, preparing the eleventh statesmen for holding free, fair, and legal elections. Sadegh Zibakalam wrote in a note for Etemad titled 'The President in the Field of Repetitive Issues,' stating: 'The most important and clearest aspect of the president's remarks during his press conference was their repetitiveness.' The columnist for Etemad pointed out that 'this repetitiveness is naturally a product of the repetitive nature of the questions posed by journalists,' emphasizing that 'the most important context for creating such conditions is that these questions remain as unresolved issues of society.' In other words, the focus of the questions is still on unresolved societal issues. Sadegh Zibakalam wrote: 'The government must accept that if it is facing repetitive questions, it should review its record to understand why, during two years of activity, it has still been confronted with old issues by various media with different tendencies,' adding that 'it seems that the media and information approach of the government has been such that it has not been able to justify public opinion even in areas where there are definitive and convincing answers.' The columnist for Etemad also emphasized that 'the most complete and least flawed part of the president's remarks on Saturday was his discussion about house arrest, where he managed to provide a more accurate depiction of the government's situation and the executive branch's willingness, indicating that while not forgetting the issue, it currently lacks the capacity to resolve it. This part of Mr. Rouhani's remarks may symbolize the same repetitive and unanswered issues that continue to recur in society.' The newspaper Qanoon described Rouhani's remarks as 'a diplomatic response to electoral promises,' referring to a question about the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard and the president's response to it, stating: 'A journalist from Mardomsalari asked a different question about Rouhani's electoral promises, asking the president whether he had not made promises during the election campaign to lift the house arrest of the imprisoned, but in these two years, no action has been seen to lift the house arrest.' The newspaper noted: 'This is not a matter to be addressed with diplomats and senators; it is about our own people, do not respond in diplomatic language. Be clear and straightforward.' According to the newspaper, Hassan Rouhani responded to this question by saying that 'the government's effort from the beginning has been to ensure that everyone in our society feels more at ease, and if there is an issue in the past in this country that we can legally end, then let us end it. The continuation of a problem that has arisen in society, whether the right is with this or that, ultimately our judiciary and courts will rule, but turning an issue into a permanent problem in the country benefits no one. What is the benefit? We must strive for the law to be implemented. If someone has made a mistake, the law must be applied to them. However, turning it into a constant and ongoing slogan and repeating it, what is the result?' Hassan Rouhani emphasized that 'the power of a system and government is to resolve its issues more quickly. Like this nuclear program. Would it have been good if we had continued it for 20 years? In the framework of national interests, the sooner we finalize it, the better it is for us,' addressing the journalist from Mardomsalari, saying: 'You said not to use diplomatic language, but it is not necessary to announce everything. The fruit should not be picked too early. We have many important issues in this country. Of course, we must all learn from the past and learn. We must not allow deviation and mistakes to recur.' The newspaper Qanoon also pointed to obstacles for journalists' questions, stating: 'On the day Rouhani entered the field with laughter and jokes, many government-supporting journalists left the session upset and dissatisfied because organized individuals did not allow questions to be asked of Rouhani during the president's press conferences.' Newspapers close to the principlists focused on other parts of Rouhani's remarks. The newspaper Resalat quoted the president stating: 'We must prevent the infiltration and influence of the enemy.' The newspaper Kayhan also quoted Rouhani stating: 'We have not signed anything to send to the parliament for approval.' According to this newspaper, Hassan Rouhani pointed out that 'in the JCPOA, we did not sign anything; not only the president but also the representative of the president did not sign anything,' stating: 'The submission of the JCPOA to the parliament means that something that the president has not signed until now should be signed by the president and then sent to the parliament for approval, meaning that with these actions, we are only creating obligations for ourselves that no country has done.' The Parliamentary Research Center criticized the 'Protection of Chastity and Hijab' plan, reporting that 'warnings and record-keeping in the case of improper hijab, educational courses for women with un-Islamic attire, monetary fines, and penalties' are just parts of the plan that 'the Parliamentary Research Center has rejected in its expert review and has analyzed and evaluated section by section.' The newspaper stated: 'The plan's disregard for the necessity and importance of creating public demand and collective consensus in addressing improper hijab, increasing the possibility of a rift between the system and the people, and reducing improper hijab from a non-normative and non-valuable issue to traffic violations and diminishing the value of hijab and expanding the perception of violating hijab by paying a monetary cost' are among the reasons for the rejection of the generalities of the 'Protection of Chastity and Hijab' plan by the Parliamentary Research Center. This center also emphasized in part of its evaluation that the 'Protection of Chastity and Hijab' plan 'does not create new criminalization regarding chastity and hijab, but rather seeks to enhance the enforcement of existing criminalization through the determination of an executor and the intensification of punishment.' According to the newspaper Shargh, the Parliamentary Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly also assessed the approval and implementation of the 'Protection of Chastity and Hijab' plan as a cause for increased pressure regarding human rights on the Islamic Republic, stating in its report that 'since our country's political files regarding human rights violations are under discussion, the approval and implementation of this plan could exacerbate international pressure against Iran in international forums and systems.' The newspaper emphasized that the 'Protection of Chastity and Hijab' plan targets women's economic sectors, where, under the pretext of avoiding the mixing of women and men in many jobs and night working hours, the necessity of obtaining permission from the places of business is stipulated, while 'some sections of the plan are also dedicated to satellite television, with strict laws against it ranging from heavy fines to the arrest of building managers.'