The Iranians that they do not wear the veil they could be forced to receive psychological treatment in clinics, in a new measure by the Iranian Government to try to reimpose the islamic garment that many women have stopped using since the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. Attendance at a ‘Hijab Rehabilitation Clinic’ may be imposed as an alternative to fines and by court order, the Center’s deputy director of Social Affairs reported this Thursday. of Ordering Good and Prohibiting Evil, Mohammad Reza Mirshamsi, in statements to the Didban media.
The source indicated that the Judiciary requested alternatives to the punishments that were being applied to women detained for not wearing the mandatory veil and its agency proposed mandatory attendance at psychological clinics. “By participating in meetings at these clinics they will realize the harm of removing the hijab and will stop this illegitimate and illegal practice,” Mirshamsi said.
The deputy director of Social Affairs Center for Ordering Good and Forbidding Evil He indicated that the measure follows the guidelines established by the president of the country, Masud Pezeshkianwho defended during the electoral campaign that the issue of the veil was educational and not police. The Iranian authorities reported the creation of a clinic in Tehran to support in a “scientific and psychological way” women who feel pressured not to wear the Islamic veil, implying that it was a voluntary measure.
The announcement of the new clinic came after a young woman was arrested earlier this month for stripping to her underwear at a university in Tehran, in an action that was considered an act of protest after allegedly having a problem with security. of the place because of the veil. The Iranian Government stated that the young woman was suffering from “problems” and assured that it did not consider the event as a security issue, but rather a social one.
Civil disobedience
Many Iranian women have stopped wearing the veil as a gesture of civil disobedience since Amini’s death in September 2022, after she was detained by the Morality Police for not wearing the Islamic veil properly, and whose death sparked strong protests. Since then, the Iranian authorities have been trying to reimpose the use of the veil with punishments such as the confiscation of vehicles or the return to the streets of the Morality Police, who arrest uncovered women.
Parliament approved a law in 2023 that was ratified in September by the Guardian Council – the body that vetoes legislation – and must now be promulgated by the Iranian president, the reformist Masud Pezeshkian. The law establishes punishments for women who violate the strict dress code with prison sentences of up to five years in case of repeat offenses, fines of up to $2,000, automobile confiscation and driving bans, as well as deductions from wages or employment benefits or travel bans. Despite this, many Iranian women continue not to wear the veil as a gesture of defiance against the Islamic Republic.
