Reactions to the News of 'Hijab Bill' Approval by the Guardian Council; 'Greetings to Gender Apartheid'

Although the news of the approval of the bill known as 'Chastity and Hijab' by the Guardian Council has not yet been officially announced by this body, the statements of two members of parliament were sufficient to provoke reactions on social media. These reactions emerged after Ahmad Rastin, the spokesman for the Cultural Commission of Parliament, and Moussa Ghazanfaraabadi, a member of the Legal and Judicial Commission, announced within days of each other that the aforementioned bill, which had been in limbo between Parliament and the Guardian Council for a long time, had been 'approved' by this council. However, no official news has been released by the Guardian Council or the Parliament regarding the approval of this bill. The news of the bill's approval has been provocative because it seems that some supporters of Massoud Pezeshkian expected that, given his electoral promises regarding women's dignity and his statements in his first press conference about pursuing to 'not harass' by the morality police, this bill would also remain unaddressed. Nevertheless, the unofficial news of the 'approval' of the 'Chastity and Hijab' bill has led some social media users to raise the issue of 'gender apartheid' in Iran, which has been brought up by several political prisoners, including Narges Mohammadi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Motahareh Ghonei, a student activist and former political secretary of the Islamic Students Association of Tehran University and Medical Sciences, who had previously been prevented from entering Tehran University and was sentenced to prison for protesting the imprisonment of Tomaj Salehi, a dissident rapper, reacted to the news of the 'approval' of this bill by writing: 'Greetings to gender apartheid.' Abuzar Zaman, a lawyer and son of the late Hossein Zaman, a singer who opposed the policies of the Islamic Republic, also described the 'Chastity and Hijab' bill as 'inhumane, misogynistic, and catastrophic.' He pointed out that 'now the president must sign and announce it,' calling for Pezeshkian not to sign this bill to show his 'will' in support of women's rights. Maryam Shakirani, a journalist, also noted the importance of ignoring this bill, stating: 'What some people do not understand is the difference between 'law' and 'right'; otherwise, slavery was also 'law.' The first reports of the 'approval' of this bill coincided with the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Zhina Amini while in custody of the morality police, as announced by Moussa Ghazanfaraabadi, a member of parliament. The publication of this news coincided with the campaign 'I am one of the countless women of the city,' where several women shared images of themselves without hijab in various urban areas with the hashtag Mahsa Amini on social media. It is still unclear when the Guardian Council and the Islamic Consultative Assembly will officially announce the 'approval' of this bill. Spokesman of the Cultural Commission of Parliament: The Guardian Council has approved the 'Chastity and Hijab' bill. After speculations about a possible delay in the announcement of this bill and behind-the-scenes negotiations among government bodies regarding it, Hassan Younesi, a lawyer close to the government of Massoud Pezeshkian, also confirmed these speculations in one of the Persian Clubhouse rooms. It is unclear whether Pezeshkian's government, possibly in cooperation with Parliament, can find a legal way to delay this bill or if the only way forward for the government will be to ignore its implementation after the announcement.