Experts: Legalizing Mandatory Hijab Will Increase Social Tensions

Members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Guardian Council approved the bill imposing mandatory hijab, known as the 'Chastity and Hijab' law, on Saturday, December 1, with 74 articles and 5 chapters. This law will be implemented on a 'trial basis' for three years starting December 14. This bill was drafted by the judiciary following widespread protests in 2022 against the compulsory hijab and the indifference of women and men towards it, and was sent to the parliament led by Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf after being approved by President Ebrahim Raisi's government. The government of Masoud Pezeshkian is mandated to provide tools for suppressing women's freedom, especially their freedom of dress, and to impose heavy financial penalties on opponents of this law. Maryam Bani Hashimi, a human rights activist, told Voice of America that the Islamic Republic will turn the law imposing mandatory hijab into a tool for the systematic oppression of Iranian women. She cited the regime's economic interests and rents as other reasons for the law's approval, adding: 'Neither Pezeshkian's government nor any other government can change the issue of women and the ideology of hijab as long as the Islamic Republic is in power.' This human rights activist emphasized the legitimacy crisis of the Islamic Republic and the loss of the government's social base, stating: 'The Islamic Republic intends to control society, especially the younger generation, with these laws, but what will happen is an increase in social tensions between the people and the government and its agents.' Pegah Bani Hashimi, a legal researcher, also told Voice of America that the Islamic Republic intends to legitimize all previous criminalizations with this law. She considered the 'Chastity and Hijab' law as government interference in people's private lives, adding: 'The Islamic Republic intends to turn the country into a military barracks and create problems not only for women but for every single Iranian.' Mohammad Saeedi, representative of Ali Khamenei in Qom, stated on May 2 this year that the issue of hijab is one of the 'important concerns' of the Supreme Leader, and that the police and the 'Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice' headquarters must implement hijab laws to prevent what he calls 'enemy propaganda.' Emanullah Ghaei-Moghadam, a sociologist, criticized the so-called Chastity and Hijab bill in the Islamic Consultative Assembly in August 2023, stating: 'With this bill, they have made the issue class-based. This bill will fail and cause embarrassment.' Critics of the so-called 'Chastity and Hijab' law: it is shameful and disappointing. Opponents of mandatory hijab will face fines of at least 330 million tomans. The European Parliament: discriminatory laws against women and girls in Iran must be repealed. A proposed resolution in the European Parliament against the increasing repression of women in Iran. Claims by one of the designers of the 'Chastity and Hijab' law; it will be announced on December 7. Claims by the legal deputy of Pezeshkian's government: the 'Chastity and Hijab' law has been suspended.