Filmmakers: The Mandatory Hijab Law is a 'Full-Scale War Against the People of Iran'

Jafar Panahi, a prominent Iranian filmmaker, published a statement from 'more than a hundred filmmakers' on Thursday, December 6, condemning the 'new hijab and chastity law,' describing it as 'a declaration of full-scale war against the people of Iran.' Mr. Panahi shared this statement on his Instagram page. The statement refers to the 'new hijab and chastity law,' stating: 'The punishments for not complying with the mandatory hijab under the guise of law, which lacks popular support and even includes children, is a blatant insult to each and every Iranian, a violation of women's rights, and contrary to human rights.' The statement continues: 'How can the parliament, amidst all this corruption, inefficiency, and various economic problems facing the people, environmental damages, and regional wars, enact an anti-Iranian law that could create numerous other crises?' The authors of the statement assert: 'We, the filmmakers, consider the hijab and chastity law to be a humiliation of Iranians and contrary to human rights and in opposition to patriotism.' Among the signatories are Homayoun Asadian, Setareh Eskandari, Mohsen Amir-Yousefi, Mojgan Inanlou, Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, Pantea Bahram, Hanieh Tosiy, Monijeh Hekmat, Katayoun Riahi, Mani Haghighi, and Hengameh Qaziani. Previously, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, announced on Saturday, December 1, that the law enforcing mandatory hijab, known as 'Hijab and Chastity,' would be communicated to the government on December 14. The restriction of women's freedom under what is called the 'Chastity and Hijab Law' is organized in 74 articles and 5 chapters and has been finalized after numerous exchanges between the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Guardian Council, and the Expediency Discernment Council of the Islamic Republic. According to this 'law,' women who appear without mandatory hijab more than four times 'in real or virtual space' will face accusations such as 'promoting or advertising nudity, immorality, unveiling, or improper dress,' and will be sentenced to at least a fine of 330 million tomans. This punishment, 'at the discretion of the judicial authority,' will also include 'a ban on leaving the country for up to two years' and 'a ban on activity in virtual space from six months to two years,' and 'in subsequent instances,' the monetary penalty will increase to 500 million tomans with 'one degree of severity.' Based on the table of fines from degree one to degree eight of the Islamic Penal Code published in the media, repeating the offense of appearing without the mandatory hijab more than four times will result in a degree four monetary fine (up to 330 million tomans), and 'one degree of severity' means increasing the fine to degree three (up to 500 million tomans). Women who do not comply with the government's restrictions on mandatory hijab will be fined between five to 165 million tomans for the first four offenses. Additionally, according to Article 71 of this law, the government is required to allocate an annual budget for the provision of cameras for this plan to the command of the Islamic Republic's Law Enforcement Force. In part of this law, designing or advertising items such as clothing, figures, and toys, if claimed by its authors to 'promote nudity' and 'unveiling and improper dress,' is considered a crime and will face monetary and supplementary penalties. According to this law, the presence of opponents of mandatory hijab in real or virtual space will lead to penalties for business owners, group leaders, and platforms for audio or visual content in virtual space. The publication of the content of the law known as 'Hijab and Chastity' and the penalties set for opponents of mandatory hijab has faced a wave of reactions from social media users. Following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police in September 2022, which led to the largest nationwide protests against the Islamic Republic, women and girls in Iran have increasingly insisted on their right to choose their clothing, appearing without mandatory hijab in public and virtual spaces. The Iranian government's efforts to enforce mandatory hijab over the past two years have also been fruitless so far. On the other hand, the repression of women under the pretext of mandatory hijab by the Islamic Republic has led to widespread international criticism. In the latest instance of these criticisms, members of the European Parliament on December 1 passed a resolution calling for the repeal of 'discriminatory laws' of the Iranian government against Iranian women and girls. They emphasized that the repression of women by the Iranian government could lead to 'gender apartheid' and called for the dissolution of the 'morality police' and other 'repressive institutions' by Iranian officials. May Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, also reported on November 2 that the human rights situation for women and girls in Iran has worsened. The UN fact-finding committee also warned on the second anniversary of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini's death in custody that the Islamic Republic has intensified its efforts to suppress the fundamental rights of women and girls and 'destroy the remnants of women's activities.'