Iran planning on setting up mobile courts, imposing prison terms for those defying hijab dress code: Report
Iran planning on setting up mobile courts, imposing prison terms for those defying hijab dress code
The Iranian government has come up with new plans to clamp down on women who are defying the hijab dress code.
As per documents obtained by BBC Persian from the months of April and May, the government might plan on setting up "mobile courts" to punish the ones violating the dress code.
The documents reveal that even schoolgirls and celebrities would face the brunt of the dress code breach with girls facing action by the education ministry and celebrities being charged up to 10-year-imprisonment over "promoting corruption".
According to BBC Persian, Iran's government has not yet commented on these reports.
However, an Iranian newspaper that published a concise section of one of the directives has been charged with publicising classified documents.
Out of those, some directives were incorporated in the controversial "Hijab and Chastity Bill" which at present is under review by the Guardian Council watchdog before being converted into a law.
As per the leaked documents, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi gave the go-ahead to a slew of directivesto coordinate action by the government and other entities in order to address the issue of women not adorning hijabs, months prior to when the parliament began debating the hijab bill.
Iran's stricter hijab bill
Earlier in September, Iran’s parliament passed a new bill imposing strict punishment on women defying the hijab laws and the ones backing them.
Called the Chastity and Hijab Bill, it will be implemented on a trial basis for three years wherein women can face up to 10 years in prison and can be fined between 180mn and 360mn rials ($3,651-$7,302).
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The bill also extends punishments to business owners who serve women not wearing the mandatory headscarf and activists who organise against it.
The move came just days after the anniversary of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini's demise, whose custodial death on Sept 16, 2022, on account of defying hijab laws, sparked months of anti-hijab protests in which many called for the overthrow of Iran's theocracy.
Although the protests faded early this year following a massive crackdown on dissenters, many women continued to flout the hijab rules in public.
(With inputs from agencies)