In recent days, the wave of clashes with so-called “bad-hejab” individuals by Ershad patrol officers has been the headlines of social news.

Dozens of civil society activists issued a statement titled “No means no, this time not the compulsory hijab”, saying that the Islamic Republic’s July 12 designation as “hijab and chastity day” is “an excuse for the new marking of greater repression of the people, and especially Iranian women.”

The statement, issued on Monday, July 11, and a copy of which was obtained by Radio Farda, referring to the passage of the Law on the Expansion of Hijab and Chastity in 1997, which has been supported by various governments, from Khatami to Ahmadinejad and Rouhani, states that “all governments after the 1990s of the Islamic Republic have not only taken steps in favor of equal gender rights in Iran, which with the exception of the Islamic Republic.” Writing, passing and implementing this law and the astonished bill have played a role in this systematic corruption and oppression.”

“Today, if millions of women and those who support this ongoing struggle are compelled by their preferred lifestyles, it is a response to all politicians who have made such a fate in law,” the civil society activists signing the statement said.

The naming of July 12 as “Hijab and Chastity Day” marks the anniversary of what the Islamic Republic’s government calls the “uprising” of the people of Mashhad against the ban on hijab in 1935.

In their statement, civil society activists pointed to restrictions imposed by the “Compulsory Hijab Act” on women’s activities in society, saying that “the damage this imposed law does not limit to the loss of the right to choose clothing. Women are also placed in a position of inequality over men because of the imposed manto, tents, papers and headscarves.”

The signatories of this statement described the designation of the day of “hijab and chastity” as “the only sign that the Iranian government’s hand is empty in the face of women’s struggle against this imposition” after forty years of apparent failure to experience the compulsory hijab and its criminalization.

This year, the Government of the Islamic Republic launched what it calls the “Headquarters of July 12” to communicate “indicators” to “improve the status of hijab and chastity in the apparatus.”

At the same time, social media users in Iran launched a campaign with the hashtag “Hijab Without Hijab” and urged all women in the country to protest the compulsory dress code in Iran on July 12 by removing the hijab.

Meanwhile, GholamHossein Mohseni Eje’i, the head of the Islamic Republic’s judiciary, reacted on Monday to recent campaigns against compulsory hijab on social media, claiming that “some of the sworn enemies of the Islamic Republic’s regime” “seek to promote vulgarity and indecency in society.”

He called for the Islamic Republic’s intelligence and security apparatus to “explore the agents and hands behind the curtain and organized movements promoting indifference and indecision in society.”

In recent days, the wave of clashes with so-called “bad-hejab” individuals by Ershad patrol agents has been the headline of social news. The scope of these encounters even reached the point where “teams of the headquarters of Amr-e-Marouf and fore-for-see deniers” stormed hospitals in Mashhad with the aim of “assessing and inspecting how personnel and students are covered.”

On June 26, the Mashhad Prosecutor’s Office sent a letter to the governor of the city demanding that women “without religious veils” be prevented from entering the subway and threatened that the authorities’ shortcomings could be prosecuted.

WUNRN

“The National Day of Hijab and Chastity is only an excuse meant to target women and launch a new wave of repression against the people and in particular Iranian women,” said dozens of prominent women’s rights defenders in a joint statement released today. July 11, 2022 – https://iranhumanrights.org/2022/07/heightened-reign-of-terror-in-iran-under-new-intelligence-chief/

https://www.radiofarda.com/a/iranian-activists-statement-police-dress-code/31938400.html

Website offers translation from Persian to English.