Iran: Authorities revise mandatory wear law amid wave of protests

Iranian authorities are currently revising a law that for decades forced women to wear veilin an attempt to calm wave of protests which shook the country more than two months ago.

“Parliament and the judiciary are working on this issue,” the prosecutor general said on Thursday. Mohammad Jafar Montazeri to the news agency isna, which revealed it on Friday. He did not specify what could be changed in the law.

Iran protests erupted following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish girl who died on September 16 after arrested on vice squad for breaking the dress code islamic republicwhich requires women to wear the veil in public.

Women lead protests in which they shout anti-government slogans and remove and burn headscarves. With the beginning of the protest movement, there are also more and more women going out without a hijab, especially in the north Tehrancapital.

Ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi said Saturday at a conference in Tehran that the Constitution Iran “it has firm and unchanging values ​​and principles”, but that there are methods of application that could be “changed”.

The use of the veil became mandatory in Iran in 1983, four years after islamic revolution 1979 overthrew the Shah’s monarchy, supported by USA.

Vice Police known as Gasht-e Ershad [patrullas de orientación]It was created under the mandate of the ultra-conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. [de 2005 a 2013] “spread the culture of propriety and wearing the hijab.”

The issue of the hijab remains very sensitive in a country where conservatives who dominate parliament and the judiciary insist that wearing the hijab should be mandatory.

When will the results be known?

attorney general announced the upcoming date for summarizing the results of the mandatory veil-wearing exam.

“We had a meeting on Wednesday with the Parliamentary Culture Commission and we will see the results in a week or two,” he said in a speech in Qom, south of Tehran.

When its use became mandatory, it became common to see women in tight blue jeans. The veil was also worn loosely and colorful materials were used.

But in July the President raissi urged “all public institutions” to enforce the law of the veil.

However, many women continued to break the rules.

In September, the main reformist party in Iran He called for the law to be repealed.

Islamic People’s Union Party Iranmade up of people close to the former reformist president Mohamed Khatamidemanded on Saturday that the authorities prepare “legal elements that pave the way for the repeal of the mandatory wear law.”

The opposition group is also calling on the Islamic Republic to “officially end the vice police” and “allow peaceful demonstrations,” the statement said. (According to AFP)