Anti-Hijab Demonstrations in Iran

February 3, 2018

•

29 women protestors were arrested in Iran following anti-hijab demonstrations. Holding hijabs aloft on a stick to voice opposition against laws necessitating women to wear headscarves, hundreds of women had taken to the streets.

Though women in Iran have fought the hijab for many years, public protests as well as writing about this topic have not been allowed. In 1979, over 100’000 men and women took to the streets to protest against compulsory hijab wearing. But the laws remain unchanged. Failure to wear a headscarf is a criminal offence, punishable by fines and imprisonment.

Masih Alinejad

Masih Alinejad, a self-exiled Iranian journalist living in the US since 2009, started an online campaign calling for the promotion of personal freedoms, including getting rid of the hijab-compulsion. Because of her outspoken views, she cannot return to Iran for fear of arrest, nor are her family allowed to visit her in the US.

Back in May 2017, she started the #WhiteWednesday campaign, calling on women so send in videos in support of the protests against headscarves. This campaign has garnered support from women all across the globe. Masih also runs the Facebook page “My Stealthy Freedom”. Today, she has over 1 million followers.

Iran Protests

Iranian police said on Thursday that women were duped into taking off their headscarves by illegal satellite media sources promoting the #WhiteWednesdays campaign. This led to the arrest of 29 women only days after Vida Mohaved’s – who had been detained in December – release. Following protests, a video of Vida holding a white scarf aloft on a stick, her head not covered, had gone viral.

Veil-Laws a Little Relaxed

In recent months, Iranian authorities have not been as strict when enforcing hijab-laws. Whereas before women would be arrested for not wearing a headscarf while driving, such “offences” have lately only been punished with fines. However, observers believe that this has encouraged Iranian women to push for the removal of headscarf compulsion altogether.

Arrests Highlight Tough Stance of Iranian Authorities

No doubt, recent arrests are an attempt by the Iranian authorities to discourage other protesters and uphold the strict dress code regulations.

About Post Author

Anita Alig

administrator

See author's posts

news

News

2 responses to “Anti-Hijab Demonstrations in Iran”

Remy

February 13, 2018

I lived with an iranian family when I was in australia for a
year and was accepted into their community and learned a lot about their culture that I still quietly reflect on now some 20 years later.
Firstly I learned that the western cultures are so different to the iranian cultures that I will never claim to understand it nor will I ever accept that a culture can be understood by an outsider. Their history goes back thousands of years and they live and breathe their history.
Trying to blend two distinctly different cultures will inevitably mean a watering down of both of them.
I fear that far too many people from western cultures are externalising their own internal conflicts and finding completely unrelated cultures such as the iranian to fight some sort of an internal war that is completely irrelevant.

Reply
1. admin
  
  February 14, 2018
  
  Thanks, Remi, I couldn’t agree more. Sometimes, blaming outsiders is a way of venting personal frustrations. Sad but true. If we could all be a little more accepting of ourselves and others, different cultures could co-exist more easily.
  
  Reply

WORDNEWS27