CNN –
Iran’s parliament passed a draconian new law on Wednesday that imposes much harsher penalties on women who violate hijab rules, just days after the one-year anniversary of mass protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, died last September after being arrested by the regime’s notorious morality police, allegedly for failing to adhere to the country’s conservative dress code.
The so-called “hijab law” will come into force for a three-year probationary period. It establishes various regulations regarding the wearing of clothing, the violation of which can result in up to 10 years in prison.
Women who improperly wear the hijab in public and men who “wear revealing clothing that shows body parts below the chest or above the ankles” would be subject to fines that gradually increase after repeated violations, the bill says.
The bill also imposes penalties on celebrities and companies that fail to comply.
The Guardian Council, which oversees legislative affairs in the Islamic Republic, must still approve the law before it can be implemented. All bills passed by Parliament must be reviewed and approved by the Council to come into force.
Majid Asgaripour/WANA/Portal
Women walk on the street in Tehran on April 15, 2023. On Thursday, Iran’s parliament passed a controversial bill that increases penalties for women who do not wear the hijab properly.
Parts of the bill are unclear. For example, the legislation does not define what constitutes being “half naked” in public – a crime punishable by “fourth degree” prison time. According to Iran’s Penal Code, a fourth-degree penalty includes a prison sentence of between five and 10 years and a fine of between 180 million riyals ($4,260) and 360 million riyals ($8,520).
“Any person who appears naked or semi-nude in public, in public places or on streets, or in a manner traditionally considered naked, shall be immediately arrested,” Article 50 of the new law states.
Anyone who collaborates with foreign media and governments to promote nudity, inappropriate hijab or clothing could face up to 10 years in prison, the new bill says. Anyone guilty of mocking or insulting the hijab will face a fine, in addition to a possible travel ban of up to two years, the bill says.
The bill also targets “socially influential” individuals, who could face the same fourth-degree prison sentence and pay a fine of 1-5% of their total assets if they violate the law.
The bill’s restrictions also extend to mannequins and toys, which cannot be depicted as indecent.
The controversial bill was condemned by several human rights activists. UN experts said it could amount to “gender apartheid”.
The 70-article bill contains a number of proposals, including the use of artificial intelligence to identify women who violate dress codes.
Experts said the bill was a warning to Iranians that the regime would not deviate from its stance on hijab despite mass demonstrations last year.
Amini’s death sparked nationwide protests that rocked the country and posed one of the biggest domestic threats to Iran’s ruling clerical regime in more than a decade.
Authorities responded violently to suppress the months-long movement, and there were numerous reports of deaths, disappearances and torture in custody.
It is “a clear response to the protests of September last fall,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the Chatham House think tank in London, told CNN in August before the bill was introduced in Parliament. He added that the establishment was trying to “restore authority over veiling and the demands expected of women.”
According to Hossein Raeesi, an Iranian human rights lawyer and associate professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, some of the draft law’s measures have already been carried out “illegally” by Iranian security forces, including the recent closure of an insurance company in Tehran after some photos of female employees without hijabs circulated on social media.
With this law, the government will “legalize illegal behavior” by these forces, Raeesi said.
Iran’s morality police had largely withdrawn after last year’s protests, but in August police spokesman General Saeed Montazerolmahdi said the morality police would again notify and then arrest women caught in public without an Islamic headscarf.
Wearing a hijab has been mandatory for women in Iran since 1983, after the country’s autocratic monarchy was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The new law increases the fines set out in the current Islamic Penal Code. Anyone who violates the dress code already faces a prison sentence of between ten days and two months or a fine of between 50,000 and 500,000 Iranian riyals, which currently ranges between $1.18 and $11.82.
Under the new law, business owners who fail to enforce the hijab requirement will face higher fines, potentially amounting to three months of their business profits, and a ban from leaving the country or engaging in public or cyber activities for up to to participate for two years.
The bill would also require greater gender segregation at universities — frequent hotbeds of civil protests — and other public spaces.