Intensification of judicial and security crackdown on peaceful citizens' protest against compulsory hijab

August 17, 2019 - Despite repeated prison sentences and harsh punishments, women and men in Iran repeatedly protest the mandatory hijab law in various forms, and in many cases ignore it, showing that such protests against this law continue. 

According to investigations conducted by the Iranian Human Rights Campaign, since the winter of 2017, at least 12 people have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to 33 years, and 32 others have been arrested, for removing the headscarf and other civil activities against compulsory hijab. 

Aside from cases of civil protest that attract media attention, millions of women who do not comply with government dress codes are arrested by police every year for "not wearing a hijab," and tens of thousands of their cases are referred to judicial authorities. 

Hadi Ghaemi, the campaign's director, said: "Whether or not to wear a hijab is related to individuals' freedom of expression and is a fundamental and undeniable human right that must be defended."

He added: "Iranian authorities are using all the country's resources to suppress opposition to the compulsory hijab. But given that more than half of the population stands against them, the government's chances of victory in this regard are very small."

A report on the hijab, written using surveys collected by the Iranian Student Opinion Polling Center in 2006 and 2014 and published by the Rouhani government in 2018, found that 49.2 percent of the Iranian population believed that the hijab was a personal matter and should not be made mandatory. The report acknowledged that “it is very difficult to demand the implementation of desirable and official patterns of women’s clothing in a society where at least 41 to 50 percent of it considers the hijab to be a personal and optional matter.” 

Also, a report from the Iranian Parliament Research Center published in August 2018 indicated the weakening of Iranian society's support for the hijab and suggested revising the mandatory hijab law as a possible approach, but no action has been taken in this regard since its publication.

Even these government reports clearly show that Iranian society is changing rapidly, but so far the government’s security and judicial forces have preferred a process of repression and increasing legal strictures to impose extremist views that see opposition to the mandatory hijab as tantamount to challenging the authority of the government.

The Human Rights Campaign in Iran calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately release the women and men imprisoned for their peaceful protest against the mandatory hijab, and to cease punishing freedom of expression and suppressing peaceful protest, which is a fundamental right.

The campaign further calls on UN human rights bodies, including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, as well as governments around the world, to demand the immediate release of those imprisoned for peacefully protesting against the mandatory hijab.

Iranian courts equate not covering hair with prostitution

Following initial citizen activism and civil protests against the mandatory hijab, authorities have charged protesters with crimes related to disrupting national security.

These charges not only represent an attempt by the government to defame and discredit these protesting men and women in the public eye, but also deny them their right to a fair trial, as national security charges in Iran allow the judiciary to deny them access to a lawyer during the investigation phase.

Protesters against compulsory hijab are routinely prosecuted on moral charges such as “encouraging people to engage in corruption and prostitution,” “insulting sacred places,” “appearing in public places without a religious veil,” and “publishing, distributing, and trading indecent content on social media.” These charges clearly demonstrate the authorities’ efforts to suppress and discredit protesters in the eyes of the public.

Article 639 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code stipulates one to 10 years in prison for "anyone who establishes or manages a center for corruption or prostitution" or "anyone who encourages people to engage in corruption or prostitution or provides the conditions for it."

Mr. Ghaemi added: "Judicial authorities in Iran equate peaceful defense of freedom of expression with prostitution and immorality, and this indicates the bankruptcy of judicial policy in Iran."

Increase in the number of convictions: 10 women and two men have been prosecuted since the beginning of 2018

Since the beginning of 2018 (January 1396), at least 10 women and two men in Iran have been convicted of moral and security crimes for participating in peaceful protests against mandatory hijab.

It is possible that some defendants have chosen to keep their cases secret, so the actual number of such sentences is likely much higher. Iranian authorities often pressure prisoners not to make their cases public in the hope of receiving lighter sentences.

On August 29, 2019, Munireh Arabshahi and Yasman Ariani (Ms. Arabshahi's daughter) were sentenced to 16 years in prison by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. (10 years for the crime of "encouraging corruption and prostitution", 5 years for the crime of "gathering and colluding against national security", and one year for the crime of "propaganda against the system").

On August 28, 2019, Mojgan Keshavarz was sentenced to 23 years and 6 months in prison by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court (10 years on charges of "encouraging corruption and prostitution", five years on charges of "gathering and colluding against national security", one year for "propaganda against the system", and seven years and six months on charges of "insulting sacred places"). 

In a video widely shared on social media on March 8, 2019, International Women’s Day, Arabshahi, Aryani, and Keshavarz are seen handing out flowers to people on the Tehran metro, reminding them that hijab should be optional. A month after the video was released, all three were arrested at different times: Aryani on April 11, Arabshahi on April 12, and Keshavarz on May 25. All three will face appeal.

Prominent defense attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh was sentenced to 33 years and eight months in prison and 148 lashes in June 2018 for accepting to represent protesters against compulsory hijab. (According to Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, she must serve 12 years of this sentence in prison.) She has been in Evin Prison since the winter of 2018 and has refused to appeal her sentence in protest of the country’s illegal judicial process.

Reza Khandan and Farhad Meysami were both sentenced to six years in prison, banned from leaving the country, and banned from social media for two years in the winter of 2018. The reason for their punishment was their peaceful protest against the mandatory hijab law and the use of pixels that read: “I oppose mandatory hijab.” Khandan, who is the husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, has been out on bail since the winter of 2018.

On August 10, 2020, Meysami's lawyer, Mohammad Moghimi, wrote on his Telegram channel that the appeals court had upheld Meysami's six-year prison sentence and reduced the two-year ban on online activity to one year. Meysami has been in Evin Prison since the winter of 2018.

Azam Jangrau was sentenced to three years in prison on an unspecified date in 2018 on charges of “encouraging corruption and prostitution.” Arrested in the fall of 2018 after removing her headscarf on Enghelab Street in Tehran, she left Iran for Canada on an unspecified date.

In June 2018, Shima Babaei posted a video on her Instagram stating that Branch 1090 of the Tehran Guidance Court had sentenced her to two months in prison and a fine of one million Tomans on charges of "unveiling in public" and "publishing obscene data in cyberspace." 

It is not clear when and where he was arrested, but he was released on bail in late 2018 and left Iran some time later on an unknown date.

Shaparak Shajarizadeh first took off her headscarf in Tehran's Qeytariyeh neighborhood in February 2017 and waved it like a flag, and was then arrested on May 8 in the city of Kashan.

She was sentenced to two years in prison and 18 years suspended in the summer of 2018 on charges of "pretending to wear a bad hijab" and "encouraging corruption." Nasrin Sotoudeh represented her. She traveled to Canada in the summer of that year and has not yet returned to Iran.

Maryam Shariatmadari was arrested on March 25, 2017, for removing her headscarf on a busy street in central Tehran and hanging it on a pole. According to her lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Shariatmadari was sentenced to one year in prison by Branch 1091 of the Tehran Criminal Court on charges of “encouraging corruption by uncovering the headscarf.” She was released on bail in the spring of 2018 and has been out of the country since an unspecified date that year.

Narges Hosseini, a sociology graduate student from the city of Kashan in Isfahan province, was also arrested for removing her headscarf on a busy street in central Tehran and hanging it on a pole in the winter of 2018. Two months later, in March 2017, she was sentenced to 24 months in prison on charges of “failing to observe the Islamic veil,” “pretending to commit an unlawful act,” and “encouraging corruption.” Her lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, announced at the time that they intended to appeal the sentence. She was released on bail in February 2017 and has been out of the country since an unspecified date that year.

Vida Movahedi was arrested in the winter of 2017 after standing on an electric platform and waving her headscarf as a civil protest on Tehran’s Enghelab Street. The mother of a toddler, she has become known in international media as a symbol of the protest against compulsory hijab under the name “Girls of the Revolution.” After her release, she was re-arrested for repeating this act and was eventually sentenced to one year in prison by Branch 1091 of Tehran’s Ershad Judicial Complex on charges of “encouraging corruption and prostitution” and was released in June 2019.

Ghaemi noted: "These harsh punishments demonstrate the failure of government forces to enforce the hijab. Despite years of police surveillance on the streets, more and more women are refusing to follow government regulations on the type of clothing they should wear."

"As a result, the authorities resort to harsh measures and abuse of power, but this only deepens the gap between the state and society," he added.

Source: Human Rights Campaign