Human Rights Watch has condemned Iran’s controversial new law that increases prison terms and fines for women and girls who breach the country's strict dress code in the wake of the mass Women, Life, Freedom protests that followed the death of a young woman while in police custody for an alleged head-scarf violation.
SEE ALSO: 'Naked' And Defiant: Diary Of An Iranian ProtesterThe Hijab and Chastity law mandates sentences of up to 10 years in prison for those who are deemed to be dressed “inappropriately” in public.
The law, which was approved by parliament in September 2023, came into force after its approval by the Guardians Council, a conservative legal body.
“Rather than responding to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement with fundamental reforms, the autocratic government is trying to silence women with even more repressive dress laws,” said Nahid Naghshandi, acting Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch.
The hijab became compulsory for women and girls over the age of 9 in 1981, two years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
For women, unacceptable coverings are defined as “revealing or tight clothing, or clothing that shows parts of the body lower than the neck or above the ankles or above the forearms,” according to the new law.
For men, it has been defined as “revealing clothing that shows parts of the body lower than the chest or above the ankles, or shoulders.”
Naghshandi warned that the new law “will only breed fierce resistance and defiance among women in and outside Iran.”
The renewed focus on the mandatory hijab came after Iran was swept by monthslong mass protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police in 2022 for an alleged hijab violation.