Iran: Many women have stopped wearing the hijab. How long can they do this?

Iranian mana does not cover hair veil after the September death of Mahsa Amini. She received insults from the police, and they threw leftovers at her for walking around Tehran, the capital of Iran, without a hijab. But she was not detained and was not forced to hide. Even when?.

Bare hair has become a common sight in parts of the Persian country, especially in Tehran and universities, since Amini’s death in police custody after being arrested precisely for not wearing a hat properly. veil.

Amini’s death sparked the largest anti-Islamic Republic protests in decades, led by young people chanting “woman, life, freedom”, which all but vanished after a crackdown that killed nearly 500 people and saw four protesters hanged.

But many women still do not use veilsure in Iran since 1983, shortly after the revolution under Ayatollah Ruholah Khomeini in 1979, who defined the dress as the “flag of the revolution” and without which women were “naked”.

Doubts about the veil

The big question now is whether the supreme leader can IranAli Khamenei and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will allow women to continue without covering themselves veilthe same “flag of revolution”.

“I think they’ll make us use veil again,” Mana, a 40-year-old Tehran resident with a “piercing” in one eyebrow and colorful punk-style earrings, tells EFE.

completely abandoned the use veil since Amini’s death, she doesn’t even carry it in her bag or around her neck, and has been paying for it in recent weeks.

“The police call me a bitch for walking down the street without veil”, she says. They also call her “lesbian” and “boy”, probably because of her relatively short hair, and they even threw leftovers at her.

“The cops were throwing apple slices and stuff at me as I walked past them,” he says. This happened to him several times in the central Valiasr square in Tehran, where the riot police are stationed.

He also refused to work because he was required to use veilto avoid problems with the authorities.

Despite everything, he refuses to use veil.

“I will continue without veil until I have no choice but to wear it,” says the woman, who says she is “tired” of laws she considers “unacceptable.”

But she believes that one way or another she will be forced, along with other Iranians, to cover up again. veil.

“I heard that they are going to use new technologies to identify women that we do not use. veil”, speaks.

New technologies

Mana refers to the December announcement of the proposed closure of the Vice Police, which will be replaced by “new technologies” and “more modern methods”, according to what the authorities said at the time.

There have been speculations about the possible use of cameras and facial recognition techniques to fine and even block the bank accounts of women who do not use veilbut the issue is not clear yet.

In fact, institutional messages are contradictory. Khamenei recalled in early January that veil This is mandatory, but he urged “not to accuse women who do not use it of being irreligious and counter-revolutionary.”

But a few days later, the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office asked the police to “severely punish” hijab violations and reminded that the penalties for this “crime” range from 10 days to two months in prison.

And he added that it could also be punished by other measures such as “exile, a ban on working or leaving the country, or an obligation to perform public services,” among others.

In its current form, there is some uncertainty in the country and, above all, a tense lull in anticipation of developments in the situation.

Another neighbor of Tehran believes the government is waiting for the dust to settle before reintroducing veil.

“If they now use force so that women use veil can revive the protests,” he says.

But he has no doubt that sooner or later it will happen one way or another.

“They won’t let us stop using veilis one of its symbols,” he says.

(As reported by EFE)

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