The Iranian government is drawing up a new law that would impose harsher fines on women who do not comply with the compulsory hijab rules. According to Mohseni Ejei, Iran’s Chief Justice, those who unveil in public will be “prosecuted without mercy.”
Women in Iran who contravene a proposed new hijab law could face fines of up to $6,000, as Tehran looks at new ways to enforce a strict public dress code after mass protests against its enforcement following the death of Mahsa Amini.
The planned law, which is currently being drawn up, could result in fines for women who break the law of between 5,000 Iranian rials ($10) to 30 billion Iranian rials ($6,000), hardliner MP Hossein Jalali has revealed, according to a report in Asharq Al-Awsat.
Iran’s Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei warned of strict punishment for women flouting hijab rules. He further threatened to prosecute women who appear in public unveiled, saying that “unveiling is tantamount to enmity with (our) values. [Those] who commit such anomalous acts will be punished and prosecuted without mercy,” however he declined to mention what the punishment entails.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Ejei added that law enforcement forces are “obliged to refer obvious crimes and any kind of abnormality that is against the religious law and occurs in public to judicial authorities”.
Women do not give up
Protests spread in the country following the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the morality police in Tehran for wearing her headscarf “inappropriately”. Since the protests began, thousands have been arrested and four protesters have been executed.
However, women continue to defy compulsory hijab in public. Videos and photographs posted online show that the reaction and anger against the restrictions is still strong in Iranian society. Iranian women now are risking arrest by going out without headscarves in public places, streets, malls, shops, banks, cafes, and even airports.
A video posted this week shows a man throwing a tub of yoghurt in the face of an unveiled woman. His action was met with outrage by male and female bystanders.
Sources: Asharq Al-Awsat, Iran International, BBC