The veil (and by extension the women it covered) became an essential hallmark for the emerging Islamic state and served as a powerful political symbol whose enforcement was equated to the victory of the Revolution. Thus, the female body became the contested site whereupon the battle for male supremacy and honour was waged, and the patriarchal state imposed itself as the protector of women. Battle cry of freedom youtube code#That same year, parliament passed the Islamic Punishment Law ( qesas) that stipulated 74 lashes for violation of the hijab and in 1995, a note to Article 139 of the Islamic Criminal Code specified 10 to 60 days of imprisonment against those who publicly resisted the hijab. Nevertheless, by the summer of 1980, Islamic veiling was required in all government and public offices and by 1983, it had become compulsory for all women (from the age of six), including non-Muslims and foreigners. In protest, several thousand women took to the streets and were attacked and beaten, causing the Prime Minister at the time, Mehdi Bazargan, to proclaim that the Ayatollah’s statement had been distorted by leftist and royalist troublemakers and that there would be no compulsory veiling. The Revolutionary Council issued an edict requiring women to wear the veil in public. To this end, women in Iran have been both forcibly unveiled under Reza Shah (1878-1944) to symbolise a ‘modern Iran’, and then forcefully veiled after the Revolution (1978-79) to symbolise an Islamic state.ĭespite women’s participation in the revolutionary process, one day before International Women's Day in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini called on women to comply with the religiously sanctioned Muslim dress code. Women are central to this conflict because for the past century in Iran, they have been signifiers of its policies - a visual symbol at home and abroad. To understand what is at stake, we must understand the history that has preceded these events. As Masih Alinejad, who started the ‘My Stealthy Freedom’ movement against compulsory hijab declared, the veil is the “Berlin Wall” for the regime.'' Nevertheless, the issue at hand is much larger than a piece of cloth. ''One of the ways young women are showing their defiance against the regime is by engaging in a constant battle with the “morality police” by flouting the Islamic dress code and standards laid down by the Islamic Republic and being “badly veiled”. Especially given that these particular uprisings are larger and more far-reaching, having united different factions, ethnicities, and ideologies under the collective desire to see an end to the Islamic Republic. However, the regime has repeatedly and brutally squashed all previous protest, and as all eyes are back on Iran, many wonder whether things will be any different this time. To stop information from getting in or out, the authorities have restricted internet access, leaving their citizens in the dark.Īmini was not the first victim of the morality police and the regime - amongst the many others was Neda Agha-Soltan, a young woman fatally shot during the 2009 election protests, whose name also became a rallying cry for protesters. In the ensuing days, over 130 people have lost their lives, at least twelve of them under the age of 18, and thousands have been arrested. Freedom!” Iranian women, joined by men, of all ethnicities, across the country and in over 150 cities worldwide, are raising their fists, burning their veils, and cutting their hair in mass demonstrations following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was fatally beaten after being arrested on 13 September by the ‘morality police’ for not wearing the hijab “properly”.
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