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 1 year 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 Man, 79, Sentenced to 26 Years for Molesting Girls

DON'T MISS

Djokovic Quits Mid-Match and Walks Off to Boos, Putting Zverev in Australian Open Final vs. Sinner

DON'T MISS

Hamas Names 4 Hostages It Plans to Release on Saturday in Latest Gaza Ceasefire Exchange

DON'T MISS

US Home Sales in 2024 Fall to Lowest Level in Nearly 30 Years as Prices, and Mortgages, Soar

DON'T MISS

Judge Bars Oath Keepers Founder Rhodes from Entering Washington Without Court’s Permission

DON'T MISS

AG Bonta Sues Tulare Over Cold Storage Project. Are State Minimums Not Enough?

DON'T MISS

Reality TV Couple Sues Los Angeles After Losing Home in Fires

DON'T MISS

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Hangs Near Its Record as It Heads for a 2nd Straight Winning Week

DON'T MISS

Trump Targets California Water Policy as He Prepares to Tour LA Fire Damage

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Traffic Stop on I-5 Leads to $163K Fentanyl Bust

UP NEXT

Ontario Leader Will Call Election to Fight Trump’s Threatened Tariffs

UP NEXT

How the Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Deal Will Unfold —and Why It Is so Precarious

UP NEXT

Mexican Border States Prepare Migrant Shelters as Trump Begins Deportation Campaign

UP NEXT

Iraq OKs Marriage for 9-Year-Old Girls, Inciting Outrage

UP NEXT

Danish Politician Tells Trump to ‘F— Off’ Regarding Greenland

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Cancels Travel for Refugees Already Cleared to Resettle in the US

UP NEXT

Afghans Who Fled Taliban Rule Urge Trump to Lift Refugee Program Suspension

UP NEXT

Israel’s Top General Resigns over Oct. 7 Failures, Adding to Pressure on Netanyahu

UP NEXT

Facing Setbacks and Desertions at the Front, Ukraine Detains Commanders

UP NEXT

Palestinians Confront a Landscape of Destruction in Gaza’s ‘Ghost Towns’

US Home Sales in 2024 Fall to Lowest Level in Nearly 30 Years as Prices, and Mortgages, Soar

50 minutes ago

Judge Bars Oath Keepers Founder Rhodes from Entering Washington Without Court’s Permission

55 minutes ago

AG Bonta Sues Tulare Over Cold Storage Project. Are State Minimums Not Enough?

57 minutes ago

Reality TV Couple Sues Los Angeles After Losing Home in Fires

60 minutes ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Hangs Near Its Record as It Heads for a 2nd Straight Winning Week

1 hour ago

Trump Targets California Water Policy as He Prepares to Tour LA Fire Damage

1 hour ago

Fresno County Traffic Stop on I-5 Leads to $163K Fentanyl Bust

1 hour ago

Critically Acclaimed Film ‘Between Borders’ Premieres in Fresno

1 hour ago

Trump’s Cabinet Picks Are Set for Senate Hearings. Here’s the Schedule

2 hours ago

Ontario Leader Will Call Election to Fight Trump’s Threatened Tariffs

2 hours ago

Tulare Man, 79, Sentenced to 26 Years for Molesting Girls

A Tulare man was sentenced to 26 years in state prison Tuesday for sexually abusing three young girls over a span of more than two decades, ...

24 seconds ago

Frederick Guerrero, 79, of Tulare, was sentenced to 26 years on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in child molestation case. (Tulare County DA)
24 seconds ago

Tulare Man, 79, Sentenced to 26 Years for Molesting Girls

42 minutes ago

Djokovic Quits Mid-Match and Walks Off to Boos, Putting Zverev in Australian Open Final vs. Sinner

46 minutes ago

Hamas Names 4 Hostages It Plans to Release on Saturday in Latest Gaza Ceasefire Exchange

50 minutes ago

US Home Sales in 2024 Fall to Lowest Level in Nearly 30 Years as Prices, and Mortgages, Soar

55 minutes ago

Judge Bars Oath Keepers Founder Rhodes from Entering Washington Without Court’s Permission

57 minutes ago

AG Bonta Sues Tulare Over Cold Storage Project. Are State Minimums Not Enough?

60 minutes ago

Reality TV Couple Sues Los Angeles After Losing Home in Fires

1 hour ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Hangs Near Its Record as It Heads for a 2nd Straight Winning Week

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

Search

Send this to a friend