The invoice establishes a variety of penalties, together with fines and imprisonment, for costume code violators.
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s parliament has handed a brand new “hijab and chastity” invoice that units out punishments for folks, particularly ladies, who violate the nation’s obligatory costume code guidelines.
On Wednesday, lawmakers accepted a three-year trial for the invoice, with 152 votes in favor to 34 in opposition to, with seven abstentions.
The Guardian Council, a robust watchdog made up of clergy and authorized specialists, should approve the invoice earlier than it could actually come into pressure.
The invoice has been within the works for months, however was by no means put to a vote in parliament. It was accepted final month by a particular committee made up of 10 members.
At the time, lawmakers invoked a provision within the structure that enables for the creation of a committee to approve laws for “experimental” implementation. Wednesday’s vote in Congress solely decided the period.
The legislation defines a brand new framework for the way Iranians, particularly ladies, should observe the nation’s obligatory costume code, which has been in place since shortly after the 1979 revolution.
For ladies, unacceptable coverings are “revealing or tight clothes, or clothes that exposes components of the physique under the neck, above the ankles, and above the forearms,” based on the most recent model of the legislation printed in native media. It is outlined as.
For males, it’s outlined as “clothes that exposes physique components under the chest and above the ankles and shoulders.”
There may even be new penalties for folks discovered to have damaged the principles.
The invoice, which has greater than 70 articles in whole, supplies a sequence of economic penalties for hijab violations, dedicated in an organized method and involved with “overseas governments, networks, media, entities or organizations.” If discovered to be the case, the sentence might be elevated to imprisonment. ” or its associated individuals.
Companies and enterprise house owners additionally face penalties together with hefty fines, bans from leaving the nation, and jail time if they’re discovered to be promoting “nudity, lack of chastity, or inappropriate protecting” in any manner. Become.
The invoice additionally particulars new obligations for a lot of governments, legislation enforcement businesses, and army organizations to completely adjust to obligatory hijab laws and to do the whole lot of their energy to stop and determine violations. .
Last month, a United Nations group of specialists stated the hijab invoice “could quantity to a type of gender apartheid.”
“The invoice imposes harsh penalties on ladies and women for violations that may result in violent enforcement,” the skilled stated.
“The invoice additionally violates basic rights equivalent to the proper to take part in cultural life, the prohibition of gender discrimination, freedom of opinion and expression, the proper to peaceable protest, and the proper to entry social, instructional and well being providers. freedom of motion.”
The invoice was handed simply days after the primary anniversary of the demise of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl from northwestern Kurdistan who died in police custody within the capital Tehran.
Her demise sparked nationwide protests that lasted for months and left tons of useless after she was arrested by morality police on suspicion of not adhering to a costume code.
The morality police vans, which had all however disappeared from the streets of Tehran and different cities in the course of the protests, formally returned final month.
These embody using sensible cameras, fining automobile house owners and impounding their autos in case of repeat violations, taking authorized motion in opposition to celebrities, and being present in violation of the costume code. This consists of closing companies that serve ladies.
