Tehran (TIP): Iran introduces stricter penalties for persons defying compulsory morality laws. The 74-article law titled ‘Protection of the Family through the Promotion of the Culture of Chastity and Hijab’ imposes severe penalties including fines up to $2,380, flogging, prison sentences of up to 15 years or even death.
The law was drafted by the judiciary in May 2023 following the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ uprising in September 2022. The Guardian Council approved the bill earlier this year and was passed by the Iranian parliament on December 1. The law will be implemented from December 13 onwards with a trial period of 3 years.
Amnesty International issued a statement on December 11 noting that the new law has been adopted to crush the ongoing resistance to compulsory veiling, further diminishing the rights of women.
“The authorities are seeking to entrench the already suffocating system of repression against women and girls while making their daily lives even more intolerable,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Regional Office.
Human Rights Watch published an article in October 2024 stating that the law consolidates existing measures to enforce compulsory hijab by putting in place restrictions on employment and educational opportunities for violators.
“Rather than responding to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement with fundamental reforms, the autocratic government is trying to silence women with even more repressive dress laws,” said Nahid Naghshbandi, acting Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. “This law will only breed fierce resistance and defiance among women in and outside Iran.”
The new law defines different degrees of ‘improper dressing’ with varying penalties. Immodest clothing for women is defined as tight clothing that exposes parts of the body below the neck, above the ankles or above the forearms. Immodest clothing for men refers tight clothing that exposes any part of the body below the chest and above the knees or sleeveless shirts that expose the shoulders. (AFP)