Continued Pressure on Mandatory Hijab Protesters; Judiciary Expedites Case Proceedings
Ali Qassi, Tehran’s prosecutor, announced that he will deal decisively with those protesting mandatory hijab.
IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday, June 19, that Tehran’s prosecutor Ali Qassi, emphasizing confrontation with mandatory hijab protesters, stated: “We will deal decisively with those who have engaged in organized norm-breaking and are promoting enemy objectives in the realm of indecency and non-hijab.”
Since December two years ago, women and young girls have protested the mandatory nature of hijab in Iran by removing their headscarves. To date, dozens of these activist protesters have been arrested and imprisoned by the Islamic Republic, and some have been forced to leave the country.
In April of the current year, the U.S. State Department, in a statement, strongly condemned the severe suppression of women’s rights activists in Iran and called for an end to harassment, torture, and imprisonment of women who are only demanding their basic and fundamental rights.
Amnesty International also issued a report in June of the current year, which, while describing the role of mandatory hijab in the daily lives of Iranian women and girls, pointed to sometimes very violent confrontations by morality police officers with women who are not fully covered.
Islamic Republic officials had previously banned dog walking in provinces including Tehran, Gilan, and Khuzestan, and in mid-June of the current year, Masoud Soleimani, deputy prosecutor general and revolutionary prosecutor of Gorgan, wrote that dog walking is banned in Gorgan and police are obligated to arrest the “accused” if they observe this matter, and the dog should be handed over to the “municipality.”
The Islamic Republic also has a history of violent confrontations with dogs, such that municipal officers have repeatedly killed these animals.
Source: Voice of America
