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The Iranian parliament has passed a new bill that imposes strict punishment on women who defy hijab laws and on those who support them. Currently, those who do not comply risk a prison term of between 10 days or two months or a fine between 5,000-500,000 rials. This amounts to ($0.10-$10.14 dollars as per the black-market exchange rate).
About the New Bill
The new bill is titled “Chastity and Hijab Bill,” it will be implemented on a trial basis for three years wherein women can face up to a decade of imprisonment and will be fined between 180 million rials and 360 million rials ($3651 to $7302) dollars. The bill also extends punishment to business owners who serve women not wearing the mandatory headscarf and activists who organise against it.
This bill was passed just days after the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, who was a twenty-two-year-old woman from the northwestern province of Kurdistan who died in the police custody of Gasht-e-Ershad or literally the moral police of Iran.
Totalling 70 articles, the bill defines an array of financial penalties for hijab violations which could be ramped up to prison terms if found to be done in an organised manner and in contact with foreign governments, networks, media, other groups or organisations and even people affiliated with it.
The bill now requires the approval of the Iranian Guardian Council which is largely controlled by the theocratic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The proposed legislation will also fine those promoting nudity or making fun of the Hijab in the media or social networks and the owners of the vehicles in which a female driver or passenger is not wearing the hijab or appropriate clothing according to an international media agency.
The new bill also details new duties for a host of government, law enforcement and military organisations to make sure that they and their staff fully comply with the mandatory Hijab rules and do their utmost to prevent instances of violations or identify them
Gender Apartheid in Iran
A group of United Nations Experts have described the bill as a form of gender apartheid. The draft law imposes severe punishment for women and girls for noncompliance which may lead to its violent enforcement. The Bill also violates fundamental rights, including the right to take part in cultural life, freedom from gender discrimination, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to peaceful protests, the right to access social, educational and health services and even freedom of movement.
By approving this bill, the Islamic Republic’s Parliament has put a massive lock on the bodies of Iranian women. Iran was already an open prison for the women of Iran, but they now extended the brutality with which they will crack down on women by giving serious powers to those implementing the streets,” the Iranian human rights lawyer Hossein Raeesi.
Government Action
After largely vanishing from the streets of Tehran and other cities during the protests, the morality police vans officially returned in August. In recent days, the theocracy has taken certain steps to counter increased instances of Hijab defiance on online as well as offline platforms.
These include using smart cameras, fining owners of vehicles and then impounding the cars for repeated offences, forming court cases against celebrities and shutting down businesses for offering services to women who violate the dress codes.
The authorities have gone to the extent of barring women who defy the Hijab from accessing doctors too. Admissions to universities and colleges have been restricted for women who do not comply with the dress code. They have gone to such an extent that the defaulters will be barred from even visiting graves and burial grounds.
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