Whipping Sentence for Engineer Opposing Mandatory Hijab; Zainab Kazemi: I Am Not Ashamed of My Call for Justice

Zainab Kazemi, a protester who removed her hijab during a general assembly of the Engineering Organization of Tehran Province last winter, states that the court has sentenced her to 74 lashes on the charge of 'offending public morality.' This protesting engineer rejected the accusations against her and called the ruling 'humiliating' after posting a photo without the mandatory hijab on Instagram. She emphasized, 'I will never regret raising my voice for justice against oppression and will not remain silent.' The 38-year-old Kazemi noted that despite her case not facing 'significant violence' due to media coverage, the 'painful' treatment of similar cases by the government compelled her to break her silence. She described the assembly of the Engineering Organization of Tehran Province in Bahman (January-February) as 'very controversial' and cited her reasons for removing her hijab as a protest against 'the ongoing discrimination against women,' 'the beating of engineers protesting the voting process by security forces,' and 'fraud in the voting process' of the assembly. While Zainab Kazemi reported a five-year suspension of the 74 lashes sentence by the court, she predicted that, similar to many others, she would soon be declared guilty and her sentence would be executed, referencing the legislative methods of the parliament. Her act of removing her hijab and her protest speech at the assembly received widespread attention on social media. In the indictment from the Tehran judiciary, which was published on this protesting engineer's Instagram page, her act of removing her hijab in protest on social media, especially on the Instagram of Masih Alinejad, an opponent of the Iranian government, was cited as part of the accusations against her. In part of the indictment, Zainab Kazemi was accused of 'playing with her hair' on the platform of the Engineering Organization assembly, which was referred to as evidence of the intentionality of her behavior. Following widespread disobedience by women and their refusal to comply with the mandatory hijab, the Iranian government intends to combat women's optional dress by passing the controversial 'Chastity and Hijab' bill in the Islamic Consultative Assembly. This action has faced opposition from civil and human rights activists, and recently, Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, called this bill 'gender apartheid.' The 74 lashes sentence for Zainab Kazemi, the engineer who removed her mandatory hijab, the confiscation of citizens' vehicles for enforcing the mandatory hijab, and the involvement of the Minister of Interior are all part of this scenario. The repeat of the 'forced confession' scenario has led Zainab Kazemi to 'apologize.' The trial of 19 protesters in Behbahan was held 'in 20 minutes,' with the prosecutor stating it was to examine 'legal requirements.' More than 300 activists have called for 'structural change' and 'a referendum to achieve the sovereignty of the nation.'