{"id":864,"date":"2018-05-19T09:08:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-19T09:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=864"},"modified":"2018-06-18T09:52:42","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T09:52:42","slug":"veilhijab-suppression-of-women-under-the-banner-of-hijab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2018\/05\/veilhijab-suppression-of-women-under-the-banner-of-hijab\/864\/","title":{"rendered":"suppression of women under the banner of hijab"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Mahdavi Nasim\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

veil&hijab :<\/strong><\/a>Shocking video footage of a young woman being wrestled to the floor by Iranian \u201cmorality police\u201d because her hijab was loose has sparked outrage after it was posted online.<\/p>\n

The two first engage in a verbal dispute. Insults are exchanged. Then the police officer is seen pushing the woman to the ground and striking her while the woman<\/a>\u2019s friends appear to try to help her.<\/p>\n

I was personally told by a [police] officer at the Saee Park [in Tehran], \u201cGo to the zoo among the animals, you belong there. \u201cShe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet her go!\u201d they say. The woman is also heard screaming: \u201cLet me go! Let me go!\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman is later seen lying on the ground, with one of her friends saying, \u201cHer heart hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/mahdavi85\/status\/988150096863916035<\/p>\n

History of Islamic Hijab in Iran:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Women\u2019s dress has been heavily scrutinized in the Islamic republic since the 1979 revolution, when adherence to an Islamic dress code became compulsory. The dress code dictates that women\u2019s hair and body must be covered in public.<\/p>\n

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, Khomeini severely curtailed rights that women had become accustomed to under the shah. Within months of the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the 1967 Family Protection Law was repealed; female government workers were forced to observe Islamic dress code; women were barred from becoming judges; beaches and sports were sex-segregated; the legal age of marriage for girls was reduced to 9 (later raised to 13); and married women were barred from attending regular schools.<\/p>\n

Almost immediately women protested these policies. But The Islamic ruling is ideologically committed to inequality for women in inheritance and other areas of the civil code; and especially committed to segregation of the sexes. Many places, from \u201cschoolrooms to ski slopes to public buses\u201d, are strictly segregated.<\/p>\n

On 8 March 1979, more than 100,000 women gathered on the streets of the Iranian capital to protest against the new Islamic government\u2019s compulsory hijab ruling, which meant that women would henceforth be required to wear a headscarf when away from home. The protest was held on International Women\u2019s Day, and the images show women from all walks of life \u2014 nurses, students, mothers \u2014 marching, smiling, arms raised in protest.<\/p>\n

They created a moral police force to enforce this law Morality police launch regular crackdowns on those who do not fully respect rules relating to the hijab<\/p>\n

Over the past four decades, tens of thousands of women have been harassed, detained, fined, or even sentenced to jail terms for being insufficiently covered.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What is the hijab?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The hijab today in Iran includes the choice of either a chador or a manteau and veil. The chador is a highly modest, usually black or dark outfit that covers the top of a woman\u2019s head and loosely covers her body to her feet. The manteau is a long top similar to a trench coat. \u201cThe dress needs to be appropriate according to the Islamic custom of hijab (veil): women are not required to be veiled in front of \u2018mahram\u2019 relatives such as husband, father, son, brother, but are required to be \u201cmodest\u201d if they are likely to be seen by \u2018no-mahram\u2019 males\u201d.<\/p>\n

From Iranian point of view what is the bad hijab?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBad hijab\u201d \u2015 exposure of any part of the body other than hands and face \u2013 is subject to punishment of up to 70 lashes or 60 days imprisonment, the Tehran police, (which is under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei\u2019s supervision), began the most fierce crackdown on what is known as \u201cbad hijab\u201d in more than a decade. In the capital Tehran thousands of Iranian women were cautioned over their poor Islamic dress and several hundred arrested.<\/p>\n

Moral police have recently stepped up their actions against women, including 29 women arrested against hijab protests.<\/p>\n

Compulsory veiling is violation of international law<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under international law, Iranian legislation on compulsory veiling is a clear violation of a number of key human rights. It is deeply discriminatory with relation to women and girls, who are its direct and sole target. Such compulsion in law also violates the rights of women and girls to freedom of expression, thought, conscience, religion and privacy, and the specific rights of children.<\/p>\n

Why does the Iranian regime suppress women in the name of Islamic law?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iranian women are a significant part of Iranian society. They are very progressive and educated. They played an important role in the 1979 revolution, but when Khomeini took power he knew that without repression and limitation of women, he could not impel the people to obey his own inhumane laws in Iran. Khomeini made his first step in restricting women under the name of Islam. Because in this way he could justify the continuous blatant presence of his oppressive forces in society under the pretext of \u2018Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice\u2019.<\/p>\n

The first political entity that opposed Khomeini\u2019s anti-human and anti-women laws was the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/ MEK). They are the core group of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) led by Maryam Rajavi, a Muslim progressive woman, who has declared a 10 point plan as a platform for future of a free Iran. Mrs. Rajavi has attempted to advance the idea of gender equality because she deeply believes there is no difference between suppression of woman by the fundamentalists and despotism in the society as a whole.<\/p>\n

A significant portion of Mrs. Rajavi\u2019s platform refers to the women\u2019s rights<\/a> as follow,<\/strong><\/p>\n

An outline of the Iranian Resistance\u2019s viewpoints on women\u2019s rights in tomorrow\u2019s Iran is declared as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Fundamental freedoms and rights<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n