Iran’s “hijab and chastity law” proposes stricter penalties for girls and women who do not fully cover their hair, forearms or lower legs, including fines and prison sentences of up to 15 years.
However, Iran’s National Security Council has put the brakes on this outdated and controversial law after it was supposed to come into effect last Friday.
This comes after the law faced global and domestic opposition. President Masoud Pezeshkian said the legislation was “ambiguous and in need of reform”, while Amnesty International, a human rights group, said Iranian authorities were “trying to entrench the already stifling system of repression”.
Pezeshkian expressed his disapproval of the country’s poor treatment of women regarding hijabs during his presidential campaign earlier this year.
“Just as in the past they could not remove women’s headscarves from women’s heads by force, they cannot do so by force now. We have no right to impose our will on our wives and daughters,” he said.
His promise of personal freedom resonated with young girls and women already frustrated by government restrictions.
The law was also criticized by Masoumeh Ebtekar, a former vice president for women and family affairs, who called it “an indictment against half of Iran’s population.”
The discourse on hijab has always been in focus, but it was heightened when a woman, Parastoo Ahmadi, was arrested after posting a video on YouTube of herself singing without a hijab, in a sleeveless dress, with her hair down, accompanied of four male musicians.
“I’m Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I love. This is a right I couldn’t ignore; to sing for the country I love passionately,” read the caption.
After the video went viral, she was arrested along with her bandmates, but was released a day later after the arrest was met with widespread backlash.
The hijab controversy has been going on since 2022 and was sparked by the death of Mahsa “Zhina” Amini, who died in police custody after violating the dress code. After her death, women challenged the government and defied hijab rules. Younger people in Iran appear fearless and defy such laws despite restrictions and pressure from factions close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
According to the BBCLast week, more than 300 Iranian rights activists, writers and journalists publicly condemned the new hijab law, calling it “illegal and unenforceable” and urging Pezeshkian to keep his campaign promises.
Nevertheless, the decision to pause the implementation of the law shows that the government is wary of protests that could break out, similar to those two years ago.