Debate on Mandatory Hijab Enforcement to Take Place in Iran

The Iranian parliament will form a public culture council to address the issue of mandatory hijab enforcement, announced the head of the Iranian Parliament's Culture Committee, Gholamreza Montazeri, as reported by РИА Новости.

“A working group has been organized in the Culture Committee of the Iranian Parliament, which will specifically deal with issues related to modesty and the hijab... The Public Culture Council, created to discuss cultural issues, is developing a comprehensive scheme regarding modesty. We are greatly prepared in the parliament to assist if there are unclear or unconstructive points in the law,” Montazeri is quoted by ISNA.

The issue of wearing the hijab and other types of headscarves, which must invariably cover every Iranian woman's head, is connected to the recent unrest in the country. Following the death of Mahsa Amini after being detained by the morality police in September, mass protests erupted in Iran. The residents blamed the authorities for Mahsa's death. Women began to widely share videos on social media where they cut their hair and burned their hijabs.

Over the course of two and a half months, the protests have taken on a radical extremist character. Almost daily, protesters attack clergy, mosque leaders, members of security forces, including the police, the IRGC, as well as members of one of the major military structures, Basij.

At the end of October and the beginning of November, two terrorist attacks occurred in Iran—one in the city of Shiraz and the other in a small town in Khuzestan province in the south of the country. The attackers fired from semi-automatic weapons at groups of civilians and police officers.

The Iranian authorities accuse Western countries of supporting the protesters, whose media spread diversionary and anti-Iranian messages, as well as calling on the Iranian population to take revolutionary steps to overthrow the government in the country. Law enforcement agencies are carrying out mass arrests among those recruited by the intelligence services of Western countries, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.