Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Iran's Parliament Passes Stricter Mandatory Headscarf Law Days After Protest Anniversary
By admin
Published 2 years ago on
September 21, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s parliament on Wednesday approved a bill to impose heavier penalties on women who refuse to wear the mandatory Islamic headscarf in public and those who support them.

The move came just days after the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by the morality police for violating the country’s dress code. Her death in custody ignited months of protests in which many called for the overthrow of Iran’s theocracy.

The bill also extends punishments to business owners who serve women not wearing the mandatory headscarf, known as hijab, and activists who organize against it. Violators could face up to 10 years in prison if the offense occurs in an organized way.

The bill, which was approved by 152 lawmakers in Iran’s 290-seat parliament, requires ratification by the Guardian Council, a clerical body that serves as constitutional watchdog. It would take effect for a preliminary period of three years.

The demonstrations sparked by Amini’s death on Sept. 16, 2022, faded early this year following a heavy crackdown on dissent in which more than 500 protesters were killed and over 22,000 detained.

But many women continued to flaunt the rules on wearing hijab, prompting a new campaign to enforce them over the summer. Iran’s clerical rulers view the hijab law as a key pillar of the Islamic Republic and blamed the protests on Western nations, without providing evidence.

The protesters said they were motivated by anger over the dress code as well as what they see as the corruption and poor governance of the country’s ruling clerics.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, a gunman shot a cleric to death in the northern Iranian town of Sejas. Police detained the assailant, and authorities said the motive was a personal dispute, according to the semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies.

Several clerics were attacked at the height of the protests. An armed guard at a bank shot and killed a senior Shiite cleric in April.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Man Found Guilty in Violent 2020 Sexual Assault

DON'T MISS

Clovis Sales Tax Hike Begins April 1. It Will Pay for 12 New Cops, 6 Firefighters

DON'T MISS

How Israel Divides the Right

DON'T MISS

Musk Is Positioned to Profit Off Billions in New Government Contracts

DON'T MISS

Law in Mahmoud Khalil’s Case Was Once Struck Down — by Trump’s Sister

DON'T MISS

Topgolf Coming to the Central Valley? Chukchansi Gold to Open First Swing Suite

DON'T MISS

Tiger Woods Confirms Romance With Vanessa Trump in Social Media Post

DON'T MISS

US Could Run Out of Cash by July, Analysis Finds

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Adam Joseph Hahner

DON'T MISS

Gaza’s Health Ministry Says Israel Has Struck the Largest Hospital in the Territory’s South

UP NEXT

Gaza’s Health Ministry Says Israel Has Struck the Largest Hospital in the Territory’s South

UP NEXT

US Holds Separate Talks With Russians After Meeting Ukrainians to Discuss Ceasefire

UP NEXT

America Is Aggravating the World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis

UP NEXT

Western Officials Say Russia Is Behind a Campaign of Sabotage Across Europe

UP NEXT

A Month-Old Girl Is Pulled From the Rubble in Gaza After an Airstrike Killed Her Parents

UP NEXT

Canada Bolsters Arctic Defenses as Trump Sets His Sights North

UP NEXT

A UN Worker Is Killed in a Strike in Gaza as Israel Warns of New Evacuation Orders

UP NEXT

Trump and Putin Agree to an Immediate Ceasefire for Energy and Infrastructure

UP NEXT

White House Says Trump, Putin Will Seek Limited Ceasefire on Energy, Infrastructure

UP NEXT

Trump Ends Program Tracking Ukrainian Child Abductions

Musk Is Positioned to Profit Off Billions in New Government Contracts

1 hour ago

Law in Mahmoud Khalil’s Case Was Once Struck Down — by Trump’s Sister

1 hour ago

Topgolf Coming to the Central Valley? Chukchansi Gold to Open First Swing Suite

2 hours ago

Tiger Woods Confirms Romance With Vanessa Trump in Social Media Post

2 hours ago

US Could Run Out of Cash by July, Analysis Finds

2 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Adam Joseph Hahner

2 hours ago

Gaza’s Health Ministry Says Israel Has Struck the Largest Hospital in the Territory’s South

3 hours ago

Former Utah Rep. Mia Love Dies. She Was 1st Black Republican Woman Elected to US House

3 hours ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Gains Ground After Shaking off Four-Week Losing Streak

3 hours ago

Another Massive Deal in the Building Supply Sector, James Hardie Offers AZEK $8.75 Billion

3 hours ago

Tulare County Man Found Guilty in Violent 2020 Sexual Assault

A Tulare County jury on Thursday found a Visalia man guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in 2020, prosecutors said on Monday....

19 minutes ago

A Tulare County jury convicted Visalia man Elijah Silva, 24, on March 20, 2025, of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in 2020. (Tulare County DA)
19 minutes ago

Tulare County Man Found Guilty in Violent 2020 Sexual Assault

38 minutes ago

Clovis Sales Tax Hike Begins April 1. It Will Pay for 12 New Cops, 6 Firefighters

For the first year after the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, the most profound effect in America of Israel’s war in Gaza was to destabilize the Democratic Party’s coalition, writes Ross Douthat. (Alain Pilon/The New York Times)
1 hour ago

How Israel Divides the Right

Elon Musk, special government employee and overseer of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), leaves Capitol Hill, Washington, March 5, 2025. In selected spots across the government, SpaceX is positioning itself to see billions of dollars in new federal contracts or other support, a dozen current and former federal officials said in interviews with The New York Times. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)
1 hour ago

Musk Is Positioned to Profit Off Billions in New Government Contracts

Mahmoud Khalil speaks during a press conference about students who were arrested and suspended for protesting at Columbia University, near the campus in New York, April 22, 2024. A New York federal judge on Wednesday transferred the case of a Columbia University graduate detained by the Trump administration this month to New Jersey, where his lawyers will continue their efforts to seek his release. (Bing Guan/The New York Times)
1 hour ago

Law in Mahmoud Khalil’s Case Was Once Struck Down — by Trump’s Sister

Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino will debut the Central Valley’s first Topgolf Swing Suite this April, offering interactive simulators, virtual games, and a luxury lounge experience.
2 hours ago

Topgolf Coming to the Central Valley? Chukchansi Gold to Open First Swing Suite

2 hours ago

Tiger Woods Confirms Romance With Vanessa Trump in Social Media Post

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, March 18, 2025. The United States could run out of cash to continue paying its bills by mid-July if Congress does not take action to raise or suspend the nation’s debt limit, according to an analysis on Monday, March 24, 2025, by the Bipartisan Policy Center. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

US Could Run Out of Cash by July, Analysis Finds

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend