Iran prosecutor says people promoting removing hijab will be punished

Iran’s authorities vowed to crack down on people encouraging women to remove their hijab following the anti-government protests that have been taking place across the country. A federal prosecutor said those who encourage women to remove their veils would be prosecuted and charged.

Iran’s Mehr News outlet reported on Saturday that deputy attorney general Ali Jamadi said that those who encourage women to remove their hijab would be prosecuted and charged without the right to appeal against a possible conviction. Jamadi stressed that the punishment for those who empower women to remove their veils would be much more severe than for those who openly remove their veils.

“The crime of promoting unveiling will be dealt with in the criminal court whose decisions are final and unappealable,” said Jamadi, according to Mehr News. “The punishment for the crime of promoting and encouraging others to remove the hijab is much heavier than the crime of removing the hijab itself because it is one of the clear examples of encouraging corruption.”

Jamadi’s comments come as women in Iran are increasingly defying the Islamic dress code imposed on women. More and more women are seen without the hijab in public spaces, with several celebrities and activists sharing photos of themselves defying the dress code by ditching the hijab. Men have also joined in solidarity in sharing photos of themselves defying the dress code.

The continued defiance came amidst the move by the Iranian police to install cameras in public spaces to identify and punish women who do not wear the veil.

More and more women have increasingly gone against the dress code since September last year following the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini. Amini died in the custody of the morality police for allegedly flouting the dress code, sparking public outrage.

Meanwhile, the country’s judiciary has sentenced 10 unnamed people that were allegedly responsible for the downing of a Ukraine International Airlines commercial flight in January 2020. The prime suspect – known as the commander of the Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile defense system that shot down the plane with two missiles – was sentenced to 10 years in prison for not heeding orders and three additional years of being an “accessory to semi-intentional murder,” according to the judiciary’s news site.

The individual will spend a maximum of 10 years in prison minus the time already served and will be ordered to pay compensation to the families of the 176 victims of the flight. Two other individuals received a one-year prison sentence, while the remaining officials were given prison sentences from one to three years.