Two hijab-less Iranian women arrested after man attacks them with yoghurt

On Sunday morning, 10 July, three women were reportedly attacked in Iran for not wearing the hijab in public. The incident took place in the city of Mashhad, located in the northeast of the country. According to Mashregh News, a local news agency, the women “were beaten with sticks by unknown assailants for having bad hijab,” which is an Iranian moral code that stipulates that women must cover their hair and loose clothing when outside the home. The three women had been standing at a bus station in a busy part of the city.

Although the law requiring women to wear the hijab in Iran has been in place since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, enforcement has varied. Since 2014, the Iranian government has increased its efforts to enforce the dress code, with police cracking down on those deemed to be in violation. But this incident would appear to be an attack committed by members of the public, rather than authorities.

In a statement responding to the attack, the Women’s Aspiration Front, an organisation that advocates for women’s rights in Iran, stated that the incident was a “brazen act of assault” against women’s “basic civil rights.” They went on to accuse Iran’s conservative factions of fostering a “violent and anti-women” environment, having created a culture in which “male domination over women’s bodies is normalised.”

Amnesty International reported on 7 July that it had received testimony from Iranian women who had experienced a significant increase in “intimidation, harassment and assault by morality police and pro-government groups” since March 2021, which was when Hezbollah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah implied that those not complying with the Iranian dress code could be labelled as agents of the enemy.

Iran’s democratic credentials have long been under fierce criticism from international human rights watchdogs, with Freedom House ranking it as the 18th least free country in the world out of the 195 assessed. However, it is not unheard of for Iranian women to rise up against the enforced wearing of the hijab: in December 2017 and January 2018, a spate of nationwide demonstrations calling for regime change were led by women, with many of them taking off their head coverings in protest. 

Today, Iran has various religious and ethical norms, with the hijab being just one. However, the freedom for females to choose and express their identities is what is currently being jeopardized. As Iran faces an upcoming presidential election, it will now have to consider its stand on women’s rights, freedoms, and overall treatment in social circles moving forwards.



Source link