Sediqeh Voseqi's Message from Evin: The Islamic Republic Has No Acceptable Justification for the 'Vulgar Mandatory Hijab Policy'

Sediqeh Voseqi, a political prisoner, referred to the 'mandatory hijab policy' as a 'failed policy' in a message from Evin Prison. She emphasized that despite the Islamic Republic's 'propaganda machinery' and significant expenditures, it 'cannot provide a logical and acceptable explanation for the vulgar mandatory hijab policy.' In a message published on her Instagram account on Tuesday, she stated, 'I have been imprisoned in Evin for over five weeks' and explained her arrest as being due to her refusal to wear a hijab that lacks religious and legal justification. She noted that because of this, she has been deprived of some basic rights of a prisoner, including family visits. Voseqi also mentioned that for three weeks on visiting days, which are Sundays, she has been staging a sit-in in the small yard of the women's guard officer in protest against this oppressive behavior. She added, 'Last Sunday, in the fourth week, prison officials deceitfully told my husband that Voseqi would not come to the visit and removed him from the visiting hall, while I was still waiting to meet him. Now, on the fifth Sunday, my husband was completely barred from the visiting hall, and the women’s section officials informed me that I would not have a visit.' Voseqi stated that her lawyer was also denied a meeting with her, and she was advised by a female officer to cover the ends of her hair with a piece of cloth and remove it after leaving the prison door. This imprisoned Islamic scholar, who has removed her hijab in protest against the Islamic Republic's policies towards women, added, 'I do not know if this suggestion was her own or a new policy of the Islamic Republic, but whatever it is, I can say that the Islamic Republic, despite having thousands of religious schools and tens of thousands of clerics and propaganda apparatuses that all feed off public funds and waste them, cannot provide a logical and acceptable explanation for the vulgar mandatory hijab policy, and therefore, to regain its lost authority, it wants to force us women into trivial and meaningless behaviors.' She rejected this 'foolish suggestion' and stated that she could not meet her lawyer. She mentioned that she tried to go back to the women's guard officer's yard to protest, but the door had been locked in advance, and a prison officer was standing in front of it to prevent her entry. Voseqi emphasized, 'The mandatory hijab policy is a failed policy, and continuing it will only lead to degenerate behavior from government officials.' A new wave of pressure on women and the suppression of their optional dress by the Islamic Republic began on April 14 under the title 'Noor Plan,' which some citizens have dubbed the 'Force Plan,' and civil disobedience against it continues.