The “Chastity and Hijab” Bill: “Partial” Indecency Fined 2 Million and “Complete” Indecency Fined 24 Million Tomans

Iranian media on Wednesday, the third of Khordad, published the full text of the “Chastity and Hijab” bill that the Ibrahim Raisi government sent to the Islamic Consultative Assembly on the 31st of Ordibehesht. In this text, non-compliance with mandatory hijab is referred to as “indecency.”

The bill states that “partial indecency” is subject to a maximum monetary penalty of grade seven and “complete indecency” is subject to a maximum monetary penalty and deprivation of social rights of grade six.

According to the Islamic Penal Code approved in 2013, the maximum monetary penalty of grade seven is set at 2 million tomans and the maximum monetary penalty of grade six is 24 million tomans.

In the “Chastity and Hijab” bill, if the mandatory hijab is not observed by drivers or passengers in a vehicle, after two instances of monetary fines, from the third instance the vehicle will be confiscated and a fine of 1 million tomans will be imposed for each day.

According to the new government bill, owners and managers of shops, restaurants, cinemas, and sports, recreational, and artistic venues are subject to not only fines but also closure and deprivation of tax exemptions and government tariffs.

The hijab is considered one of the most challenging issues for the Islamic Republic. Many Islamic Republic officials refer to it as a “red line for the system,” which appears more fragile than ever following the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests and women’s civil actions in opposition to its mandatory nature.

Meanwhile, the support of well-known figures for the protests and protesters and their presence without mandatory hijab in public gatherings has resulted in a specific section of the “Chastity and Hijab” bill being directed at these individuals.

This section states that “whenever individuals who have fame and social influence through social, political, cultural, artistic, or sports activities” violate the hijab law, in addition to the aforementioned monetary penalties, they will be punished with deprivation of professional activity and activity in cyberspace for three months to one year, and in case of repetition, they will face grade six punishment, which includes six months to three years of imprisonment.

Despite all the severe penalties provided for citizens for non-compliance with mandatory hijab, the “Chastity and Hijab” bill has not been described as sufficiently deterrent and restrictive by advocates of mandatory hijab and has faced severe criticism from them.

In one section of this bill, by imposing penalties including monetary fines, the hands of mandatory hijab advocates have been tied in interfering with others’ clothing. Imprisonment, flogging, and grade five monetary penalties ranging from 8 to 18 million tomans are considered punishments for these individuals.

Article Eight of the bill emphasizes: “No one has the right to, under the pretext of commanding good or forbidding evil, commit criminal acts against women who have not observed proper hijab, such as insult, slander, threats, assault, or violation of their privacy, and if committed, the perpetrator will be punished according to the law.”

The death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police due to “inappropriate” clothing, which occurred in late Shahrivar of 1401, led to protests that have continued even eight months later, encouraging many women in Iran to civil disobedience.

It appears that this incident, which kept Iran’s name at the top of world news for a long time, created concern among Iran’s senior government officials that intensifying the enforcement of mandatory hijab might once again fuel protests that would be very difficult to counter.

Concurrent with the continuation of Iranian women’s civil protests in recent months by appearing in public spaces without mandatory hijab, multiple reports and images of verbal and physical confrontations between advocates of this social restriction and so-called “enjoiners of good” and “value-promoting” forces have been published on social media, and some religious figures and government-affiliated individuals have repeatedly called for “vigilante action” by mandatory hijab advocates in dealing with these women.

Source: Radio Farda