Nearly two years after the death of Masha Amini, the fate of Iranian women is still in danger. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, controls on women without veils are getting tougher in Iran. “We have received reports of widespread arrests and harassment of women and girls, often aged 15 to 17,” said a spokesperson for the High Commission, Jeremy Laurence, during a briefing. Press.
He said the Office had received reports that “Iranian police – in uniform and in plain clothes – are carrying out violent repression across the country against women and girls, and against the men who support them , in order to enforce the country’s strict hijab laws.” In recent months, he insisted, police have been “increasingly enforcing” these laws.
VIDEO. In Iran, women remove the veil and cut their hair after the death of Mahsa Amini
Jeremy Laurence explained that there were reports of hundreds of businesses being forcibly closed because they were not enforcing veil laws as well as the use of surveillance cameras to identify offending drivers.
In mid-April, the Iranian police announced that they had strengthened their controls on the compulsory wearing of the veil by women in the street, regretting that it was less and less respected. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, women have been required to cover their hair in public places.
A bill to promote the hijab
But more and more women are appearing without a veil, particularly since the protest movement triggered by the death in detention in September 2022 of Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested for violating the strict dress code in force in the country.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights explained on Friday that the head of the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had announced on April 21 the creation of a new body responsible for enforcing laws on headscarf.
In addition, indicated Jeremy Laurence, the High Commission is “very concerned by the fact that a bill “Supporting the family by promoting the culture of chastity and hijab” which imposes even more severe sanctions, is on the table. ready to be approved by the Guardian Council.
The High Commission also calls on the Iranian authorities to cancel the death sentence of rapper Toomaj Salehi, imprisoned for his support for the 2022 protest movement in Iran, and calls for his “immediate and unconditional release”.