One Month After Armita Garavand's Death; Member of Parliament: Hijab Enforcers Must Be Stationed Everywhere

One month after Armita Garavand's death following being 'pushed by a hijab enforcer' in the metro, a member of the Cultural Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly stated that 'there are no legal restrictions on the presence of hijab enforcers' and they 'must be stationed in all areas, not just the metro.' According to the website 'Iran Watch' on Thursday, December 9, Ali Yazdikhah, this member of the Parliament from the Tehran electoral district, also added, 'Promotion of virtue should not be limited to a specific point' because, according to him, 'it is a universal duty for everyone.' Ali Yazdikhah, who is among the officials of the Islamic Republic sanctioned by the European Union for human rights violations, commented on the issuance of a directive by the Minister of Interior despite the 'Chastity and Hijab' bill not being approved by Parliament, stating that there is 'no legal vacuum' in this regard, but 'they will review it according to current conditions.' He claimed that Sharia 'is above the law,' stating that 'in dealing with unveiled women' or what he calls 'badly veiled,' Sharia 'rules, not the law.' The statements of this member of the Iranian legislative body regarding the superiority of Sharia over the law and his request for the presence of hijab enforcers to extend from the metro to 'all points' of society come in the wake of the death of 16-year-old Armita Garavand, who lost her life after being pushed by a hijab enforcer at a metro station and spending 28 days in a coma in a military hospital. In recent days, following Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi's claims of ignorance about how hijab enforcers operate in the metro, the newspaper Etemad published part of his 'highly confidential' directive on this matter. According to this directive, Ahmad Vahidi had called for the deployment of hijab enforcers in the metro to deal with women without mandatory hijab on June 9 of this year. The publication of this document led the Tehran prosecutor to immediately file a complaint against the newspaper Etemad and initiate a legal case. Additionally, two weeks after Armita Garavand's death, news sources told Voice of America that pressures from government forces on women in Iran to comply with mandatory hijab have intensified. Eyewitnesses told the Persian section of Voice of America that 'motorcycle police are lying in wait in traffic, checking the license plates of women's cars, and if they are flagged, they pursue them,' and that 'at some bus stops, officers have been stationed to prevent women without hijab from boarding.' According to eyewitness accounts in Iran, 'besides the officers and hijab enforcers in the metro, there are individuals taking photos and videos of women, and if a woman attempts to board without paying attention to them, it leads to violence.' Another source stated that in some cafes, 'unveiled women are not allowed in or are told to wear a headscarf and pass in front of the camera, and then take it off in the area,' as 'they say pressures to shut them down have increased,' but 'women say they will not go to cafes and will not wear headscarves either.' Despite the increased pressures for women to comply with mandatory hijab, civil disobedience continues, and in the latest events, well-known director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad appeared in public without mandatory hijab. The opinions of sociologist Forough Kani about the rejection of the 'Hijab and Chastity' bill by the Guardian Council, the request of two lawyers for the annulment of the 'confidential' hijab resolution; the Minister of Interior: anyone who obstructs will be 'criminal'; exclusive: judicial officials set conditions for 'consolidating the sentence' of a prisoner opposing mandatory hijab; insistence on 'closure therapy'; a bookstore in Isfahan and a restaurant in Tehran were closed; the margins of a 'confidential' letter; when you lie, how can people believe the story of Armita?