Iranian authorities have passed a tough new law that further strips women and girls of their human rights, with death sentences, whippings, jail terms and other harsh penalties, Amnesty International said today, in a bid to crack down on ongoing resistance to the mandatory wearing of headscarves.
The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament stated that the “Law on the Protection of the Family by Promoting Chastity and Hijab Culture” will enter into force on December 13, 2024. In a dangerous escalation, the law allows the death penalty for peaceful activities against Iran’s discriminatory mandatory mask laws.
The 74-section law also imposes whippings, heavy fines, severe jail terms, travel bans, and education and employment restrictions on women and girls who violate the mandatory hijab law. It also penalizes private entities that fail to enforce the wearing of headscarves, while providing impunity to officials and security personnel who violently attack women and girls for violating the rules.
“This shameful law intensifies the persecution of women and girls who dared to stand up for their rights in the wake of the Women’s Lives for Freedom uprising. The authorities are seeking to consolidate an already suffocating system of repression against women and girls while making their daily lives Life becomes more unbearable (Diana Eltahawy).
“The international community must not stand idly by as the Iranian authorities further codify repression, even resorting to the death penalty to quell dissent against the mandatory hijab. They must use their influence to force the Iranian authorities to withdraw this law and enforce it legally and Abolition of the mandatory hijab in practice. They must also seek legal avenues to hold Iranian officials accountable for the widespread and systematic human rights abuses they commit against women and girls through the forced wearing of hijab.
This shameful law intensifies the persecution of women and girls who dared to stand up for their rights after the Women’s Liberation for Life uprising
Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director, Middle East and North Africa
The new law was drafted by the judiciary in May 2023 in response to widespread flouting of mandatory veiling by women and girls in protest over the death of Jina Mahsa Amini in custody, sparking The “Women’s Lives for Liberty” uprising in September 2022.
The Guardian Council approved the bill earlier this year. Although the president has not yet approved the law, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf announced on November 27, 2024 that the law will enter into force on December 13, 2024, according to state media reports.
death penalty, whipping, Huge fines and severe jail terms
The law criminalizes “nudity, indecency, unveiling and inappropriate clothing”bad posh)”.
The Act defines “unveiling” as the act of women and girls not covering their heads with a hijab, burqa or headscarf (Article 50).
For women and girls, “inappropriate dressing” is defined as exposing parts of the body from the neck down (other than hands and feet), or wearing clothing that “facilitates or incites others to commit crimes” (Article 48).
“Nudity” and “obscenity” are not defined.
Section 37 of the law states that cooperation with foreign entities, including media and civil society organizations, to “promote or disseminate nudity, indecency, exposure or inappropriate dress” is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 10 years. The article states that if the conduct constitutes “corruption on earth,” it is punishable by death under Article 286 of the Islamic Penal Code. The legal provision effectively means that women and girls who send unpublished videos of themselves to media outside Iran or otherwise engage in peaceful activities could be sentenced to death.
Under Section 48, women and girls found to be “inappropriately dressed” face fines of around $160 for a first offense and around $4,000 for a fourth offense. Women and girls involved in subsequent “crimes” risk fines of approximately $8,000, imprisonment of up to five years, a two-year travel ban and a two-year ban on the use of social media platforms (Articles 48 and 38).
Under Article 49, women and girls who appear “nudity” in public places or online can be immediately detained, prosecuted, and fined up to 10 years in prison or fined up to $12,000. Repeat offenders can be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison or fined approximately $22,000.
Women and girls who are unable to pay fines will be prohibited from retrieving impounded vehicles, registering vehicles, obtaining or renewing driving licenses, renewing passports and leaving the country. They may also have their assets confiscated or face imprisonment (Article 56).
Article 67 states that punishments, including flogging, under Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code, which was used to flog women for defying coercion, continue to apply to anyone who “publicly engages in prohibited acts” and/or “offends public decency” Hijab regulations.
Under Article 38, “insulting or ridiculing the wearing of the headscarf” or “promoting nudity, indecency, nudity and inappropriate clothing” is punishable by up to five years in prison, a travel ban and/or a fine.
The law also bans the import and sale of clothes, statues, dolls, mannequins, paintings, books and magazines that “promote nudity, indecentness, exposure and inappropriate dressing”.
“The complex web of fines, jail terms and other severe penalties, even death sentences, illustrates state policies to control women and girls through fear and economic hardship.” Diana Eltahawi, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International Diana Eltahawy said the law’s consequences for the most economically vulnerable groups in society would be particularly devastating.
Codifying impunity and encouraging violence against women
The law expands the powers of intelligence and security forces, including the police force, the Ministry of Intelligence, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization (IRGC), and the Basij operatives of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, to enforce the wearing of hijab.
It also provides for complete impunity for vigilantes who fulfill their “religious duty” to wear a hijab (Article 59). Anyone who attempts to prevent arrests, harassment and violent attacks on women and girls who violate the mandatory headscarf may be imprisoned or fined (Article 60).
Business owners face fines, jail terms and advertising restrictions if they allow women and girls without headscarves onto their premises and/or are found to be “promoting” contempt for the mandatory wearing of headscarves (Article 40).
background
Mandatory hijab laws violate a range of rights, including the right to equality, freedom of expression, religion and belief, privacy, equality and non-discrimination, personal and bodily autonomy, and cause severe suffering and severe suffering equivalent to torture or other ill-treatment. pain.
The United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Iran (FFMI) concluded in its March 2024 report that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity of gender-based persecution. The FFMI found that the authorities “committed a wide range of widespread, sustained and persistent acts that amounted to human rights violations against women” [and] The girls… cumulatively constituted the persecution assessed by the investigation team.
