“Respect” Women and Journalists, Iran’s Top Sunni Cleric Tells Shia Rulers
New Age
Islam News Bureau
12 Aug 2023
·
Lebanese Filmmaker Nadine
Labaki Jury Member of Toronto International Film Festival
·
How to Be a Teenage Muslim Girl
in Post-9/11 America
·
“Respect” Women and
Journalists, Iran’s Top Sunni Cleric Tells Shia Rulers
·
What Islamic Lessons Can We
Draw from The Tragic Story of Mahek and Ansreen Bukhari?
·
Over 80% Of Female Journalists
in Afghanistan Forced To Abandon Jobs: Reporters without Borders Report
·
Crackdown on Hijab Violators:
Hundreds of Vehicles Impounded in Iranian Province
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/female-journalist-iran-sunni-cleric-shia/d/130434
------
“Respect” Women and Journalists, Iran’s
Top Sunni Cleric Tells Shia Rulers
FILE -
Iranian Sunni cleric Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi said on June 16, 2023, in Zahedan,
Sistan and Baluchistan province, that Iranian women have been “heroes of
numerous accomplishments.”
------
AUGUST 11, 2023
Iran's most prominent Sunni cleric urged
the country’s Shia leadership to listen to the demands of the Iranian people
and “respect” women and journalists, amid an intensifying crackdown on dissent,
the media and women flouting the Islamic Republic’s mandatory hijab rules.
"Respect and value women, reinstate
them to their rightful place, and show due respect to the journalists who
constitute one of the nation’s most significant assets," Molavi
Abdulhamid, the outspoken Sunni Friday prayer leader of Zahedan, said in his
sermon on August 11.
"The strength of the government
lies not in disregarding the people's voices but in actively heeding and
listening to the people," he added.
Molavi has been a key dissenting voice
inside Iran since the eruption of nationwide protests in September 2022, using
his sermons to call for fundamental economic, social and political changes in
the country.
Zahedan is the capital of Sistan and
Baluchistan province, which is home to Iran's Sunni Baluch minority of up to 2
million people.
The restive city has seen protest
rallies almost every Friday since September 30 of last year, when security
forces killed nearly 100 people in the deadliest incident in the widespread
demonstrations sparked by the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa
Amini.
Security forces have responded to the
women-led protest movement with brutal force, killing hundreds of people and
unlawfully detaining thousands, including dozens of journalists, activists say.
Following biased trials, the judiciary
has handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters.
The protests and clampdown on dissent
have been particularly intense in western Kurdish areas and Sistan and
Baluchistan.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/news/119401-respect-women-and-journalists-irans-top-sunni-cleric-tells-rulers/
-----
Over 80% Of Female Journalists In
Afghanistan Forced To Abandon Jobs: Journalist without Borders Report
Photo: Ariana News
----
By Fidel Rahmati
August 11, 2023
RSF, in their report titled “2 Years of
Journalism under the Taliban Regime”, has revealed that over 80% of
Afghanistan’s female journalists have been forced to halt their work since the
ominous date of August 15, 2021.
According to the report, of the roughly
12,000 male and female journalists that Afghanistan had in 2021, more than
two-thirds have abandoned the profession, and the media have been decimated in
the past two years.”
The report highlights that over 50% of
the 547 media outlets registered in 2021 have subsequently vanished.
According to data from the Afghan
Independent Journalists Association (AIJA), the organization has revealed that
out of the initial 150 television channels, fewer than 70 channels are
operational.
The RSF’s report further revealed, among
the 307 radio stations, merely 170 are actively broadcasting. Moreover, the
count of news agencies has dwindled from 31 to 18 within the past two years.
Since the Taliban assumed control of the
country, media outlets have encountered many challenges encompassing
censorship, economic constraints, and a shortage of skilled professionals.
Among the challenges mentioned, female
journalists are confronting dire obstacles, as they have been prohibited from
engaging in media work, leading to an alarming 80% decline in their presence
within the profession.
Over the past two decades, a significant
achievement in Afghanistan has been the advancement of freedom of speech and
media. Regrettably, this hard-earned accomplishment has faced continuous
threats due to the imposition of stricter decrees by the Taliban
administration.
The Taliban authorities have not yet
commented on the RFS report.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/over-80-of-female-journalists-in-afghanistan-forced-to-abandon-jobs-rsf-report/
-----
Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki Jury
Member of Toronto International Film Festival
ARAB NEWS
August 10, 2023
DUBAI: Noted Lebanese filmmaker Nadine
Labaki has been announced as a jury member for the 48th edition of the Toronto
International Film Festival, set to take place from Sept. 7-17.
She will serve on the TIFF Platform
jury, which also includes Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins as chair; and
2022 Platform Prize–winning filmmaker Anthony Shim.
The Platform program, going into its
eighth year, is curated for its bold directorial visions. The movies in the
2023 program are eligible for the Platform Prize, an award of $20,000 Canadian
dollars ($14,900) selected by the in-person international jury.
“I am delighted to announce that we have
an international dream jury with acclaimed filmmakers Barry Jenkins, Nadine
Labaki and Anthony Shim as jury members for the Platform program at TIFF,” said
Anita Lee, TIFF chief programming officer, in an official statement.
“Together, they represent the bold and
independent spirit of the Platform Prize.”
Source: www.arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2352826/lifestyle
------
How to Be a Teenage Muslim Girl in
Post-9/11 America
AUG 11, 2023
Bareerah Ghani
Aisha Abdel Gawad’s debut, Between Two Moons,
is a striking novel about being an immigrant and Muslim in post-9/11 America,
about battling the blasé of youth with the burdens of womanhood.
It’s June. Muslims in Bay Ridge,
Brooklyn are ready to welcome with fervour the holy month of Ramadan. Twins,
Amira and Lina, are only half prepared for the hunger and thirst pangs as they
are days away from graduating high school, their minds swirling with plans to
make this summer count. This will be the summer of freedom, before Amira heads
for college in the Fall. This will be the summer of possibilities, where Lina
finally kickstarts her modeling career. This is the summer they recreate
themselves, away from their parents’ gaze, trying on identities like clothes to
see what fits. Life, however, has its own plans.
On the first day of Ramadan, the café
across from their apartment is raided. The air buzzes with gossip, speculation,
and the all-too-familiar Muslim fear of being under surveillance. There’s
uproar in the Arab-American community, and for Amira and Lina, there’s turmoil
at home too. Their older brother, Sami, has returned from prison. Early parole,
good behaviour, his lawyer said. But nothing about his demeanor seems good.
Sami is quieter, more withdrawn. The sense of danger lurking around the corner
heightens when Lina becomes entangled with a man who promises to launch her
modeling career, and Amira meets Faraj, a Pakistani boy who progressively
begins to take more interest in Sami.
Aisha Abdel Gawad has been published in
The Kenyon Review, American Short Fiction and has also been awarded the 2015
Pushcart Prize. Currently, she’s a high school English teacher in Connecticut,
a fact that seems to have lent her some insights into her teenage protagonists
and their complicated relationship with social media.
Aisha tells me her ultimate hope with
her work is to make people feel seen. To her, I’d say, mission accomplished. As
a Muslim writer, raised in a fairly conservative home much like Aisha’s twin
protagonists, watching them fumble their way into semi-adulthood and find their
own equation with their faith has been affirming. Likewise, my conversation
with Aisha felt restorative—on performing gender, authenticity in the age of
social media, the anticipated violence of being a woman and being Muslim in a
surveillance state.
Bareerah Ghani: I wanted to start with
Amira and Sami and their dynamic. I find that it reflects this imbalance in
their parents’ treatment of them. As the son, Sami is often seen being given
special attention even when he’s not being volatile and causing trouble. It’s
sort of disturbing to watch Amira feel like she has to make herself small in
front of him. Can you talk about how you perceive such sibling dynamics in
connection with Arab familial values? Do you think it’s a product of how in
some Eastern/Middle Eastern cultures sons are given an elevated status in the
family?
Aisha Abdel Gawad: So Sami does have
this sort of precious status as the son and as a son who was taken. His trauma
is something that everyone tiptoes around. And of course this idea of sons
being particularly prized is a real part of Arab culture, although I’m not sure
it’s entirely exclusive to Arab or more Eastern cultures. I think that actually
Western societies do the same thing, but in different ways. I was interested in
exploring how I think children learn gender, and how siblings often practice on
each other before they go out in the world and perform the gender values
they’ve been taught.
BG: Speaking of performing, there’s this
idea of inauthenticity that forms the undercurrent of the narrative. Everyone’s
maintaining a facade. Sami and Faraj are performing the roles they’ve been
assigned by their fates. Even between Amira and Lina, they’re twins and they
share everything but there are moments where they try to create a certain
persona in front of one another. How do you perceive this idea of authenticity?
I’m wondering if you can speak to it in connection to Arab culture, the Muslim
identity and its various perceptions, and, of course, the age of social media.
7 Books By and About Muslim Women
Poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that
celebrate the multi-faceted identities of Muslim women
MAY 4 – SEEMA YASMIN
READING LISTS
AAG: I think of it on a base level in
terms of teenage girls of any faith, background, race. Teenage girls are always
performing different versions of themselves, testing out different identities,
kind of seeing what sticks and also, what do people like? What gets me
attention? What feels affirming or validating? And so we see the two sisters doing
that a lot in the book, trying to see what’s going to make them feel valued.
And unfortunately, as a lot of young women experience, they don’t often feel
valued in the world. But one thing that was important for me to show is that
they feel valued when they come back together. They kind of serve as mirrors to
one another, and they can let down their masks and really show each other what
their real value is. I also think there are moments when their parents and even
Sammy, later on in the book—the family unit—gives them that value. But you’re
right. They’re not the only characters who are sort of performing. I think Sami
performs what he thinks a tough, Muslim man should be. He doesn’t really know
how to express his emotions, how to be vulnerable. And in the very rare moments
where he can let down his guard, that’s where we see him rebuilding these bonds
with his family members.
I love that you also asked about social
media. I teach high school English, so I watch teenagers all day long. It’s
just an element of their coming-of-age that I did not experience—not having
social media as a teenager. And there’s this extra layer of almost never being
off the clock, like they’re always performing. And then, of course, the social
media also adds a layer of surveillance, which is another theme that I was kind
of playing with in the book. They sort of surveil and record themselves for the
world.
AAG: So I think there’s two things that
Amira can always fall back on—her family unit, and her faith. Those are her
safe places. She doesn’t always know that at the beginning. She wonders a lot
about what it means to be a good Muslim and if she can be the type of woman she
wants to be and be a good Muslim, the way that other people would define it. I
think one of the things I was hoping to explore is to take the reader on this
journey with her where, even after she does some pretty, self-destructive
things she finds safety in her faith, and that it’s always there waiting for
her. And so I think this idea of her as a woman in particular, being able to
cultivate her own relationship with God that no one else can touch, and that
will always be there for her was really important to me. I didn’t want to tell
a story about a Muslim woman oppressed by her religion, or has this sort of like,
I’m going to rebel against my faith. And I’m going to drink. The girls do drink
sometimes, but it’s not so much in rebellion against their religion. It’s more
like on their journey to figure out who they are and faith is always there
waiting for them to kind of come back on their own terms.
BG: I love that. I was very taken by
this idea of the girls trying to balance their faith, but also trying to
experiment, and indulge in all these practices that aren’t part of their
religious teachings, like alcohol, and premarital sex, and to them this is
freedom. And I can understand given that they’re being raised in a fairly
conservative Muslim household. I’m wondering how you deconstruct the notion of
freedom and agency when it comes to the Muslim experience in a non Muslim
state.
AAG: I think at the beginning of the
book the girls conflate freedom with things like drinking, dating. At one point
Amira has this fantasy of going to Europe and riding on the back of a Vespa
with some cute boy, and I think what she discovers is that’s not freedom at
all. And, in fact, there are these different cages that she enters as a woman
in the world. And that the world is, in fact, a very dangerous place, no matter
what your identity is as a woman. Just to be a woman in the world is to be in
danger. I think that one of the things she struggles with is redefining what
freedom is. And I’m not sure she ever feels free in this book but I think she
begins to redirect in thinking about how she can liberate herself by developing
her own relationship to God. And how can she develop agency in her own family.
And then there’s this sort of wider thread of being a Muslim American at a time
when Muslim Americans are facing threats from dominant society. What does
resistance to that look like for a young woman?
BG: The novel has a haunting throughline
of women of color being violated and exploited. Issues surrounding consent or
lack thereof and bodily autonomy surface in different ways. How do you think
women of color can assert themselves given that many like Amira are groomed to
not take up too much space and how this warped exoticization of women of color
can be tackled?
AAG: So these two sisters, as I said,
all they want to do is to leave Bay Ridge and discover freedom. But what they
discover instead is what I consider the anticipated violence of being a woman.
The violence that’s a kind of a threat that’s always out there lurking, like
the threat of something that could happen to you that hasn’t yet happened, or
the ordinary violence embedded in daily interactions and relationships. The
weight of that is something that these two sisters discover.
And you know, you ask, what can women of
color do? Well, there’s really no escaping it, right? There’s nowhere they can
turn except towards each other. So that’s one of the reasons why I kind of have
this movement in the book where the girls kind of go in their separate
directions out there in the world, and then sort of collide back into each
other. I think the place where they can find some semblance of liberation is in
their relationship with each other. So I try to think about how women actually
cultivate relationships with each other, and the power of those relationships.
And, in fact, there’s even a part in the book where Sami is so isolated. He has
no one to share his emotions with. But the girls do. So how can women use the
power of their own relationships that I think they forge in a shared trauma?
And how can they use that to lift each other up?
BG: This reminds me of that moment in
the book where the girls are at a party that’s just for women. That scene is
buzzing with this loss of inhibition that I felt occurred because there’s this
complete freedom from the male gaze. And at least in my experience and
understanding, in this part of the world, there’s almost a cultural necessity
for women to be hypersexualized in the public eye, so I was wondering what you
think about spaces reserved for just women and feminine energy. Do you think
there’s value and sustainability in cultivating in such spaces?
AAG: Absolutely. I think in the society
that we live in, the idea of a space where women can be, or where women can
even just take a momentary break from feeling that threat of violence that’s
always lurking, is really essential. I think women have to spend so much energy
protecting themselves from these external forces. We can’t always express
ourselves, it’s not always safe. We’re not always heard, right? Sometimes the
ways that we’re conditioned are to perform what we think men want from us, and
of course we do that to an extent among women too. But I do think there’s
tremendous power in female friendships and in sisterhoods where women can go
inward. So that’s one of the things the girls want—they want to figure out who
they are, and they can’t really do that out there in the world, but they can do
that sort of inward by kind of reflecting each other back.
BG: I find the novel is powerful in its
critique of the US as a surveillance state. Particularly poignant is the
depiction of Muslims having to walk on eggshells because we’ve been placed
under extreme scrutiny post 9/11. As a writer, how do you contend with this
reality where Muslims are always cognizant of being a minority that will most
likely not be afforded the same opportunity for justice as we see toward the
end of the book?
AAG: It’s one of the reasons why I
wanted to write a sort of classic coming-of-age story. I wanted to layer on top
of that classic story that we’re all so familiar with, this feeling of
surveillance. We talked a little bit about the threats that women face as they
go out in the world, as girls become women. But then you layer on top of that
the fact that they’re Arab and Muslim women in this post 9/11 America. So there
are these dual ways they’re being surveilled and watched. How can you grow
under such intense scrutiny? With this feeling that someone’s out there baiting
a trap for you, waiting for you to walk into it which is, I think, how a lot of
Muslims have felt.
Before 9/11, I think a lot of Brown
Muslims in particular wanted to believe they were some sort of model minority,
and that dream, which was always a fallacy, has really been punctured by this
feeling that the state that we live in, this government, is baiting a series of
traps, and we have to try not to fall into them. And that can breed intense
paranoia, distrust. It can make you question your own cultural instincts, you
know? One of the things I think about is how Arabs and Muslims treat strangers,
how they welcome people and my characters question that very impulse, that very
value. Can I do this? Is this safe? Who is an enemy?
I wanted to play with the construction
of the enemy itself. Muslims have been painted as the worldwide boogey-man for
two decades now. And I wanted these Muslim characters to be sort of grappling
with, who is our enemy? We can’t see it. We can’t identify it. It’s sort of a
specter that lurks in their lives.
BG: Yeah, like a phantom. And it’s ever
pressing. I feel like that fear, that anticipation of what’s around the corner
has shaped a lot of Muslim lives now, especially Muslims growing up here. It’s
made them into a certain kind of person that they wouldn’t be if there wasn’t
that fear where you have to think two steps ahead.
AAG: Yeah, exactly. I think about that
too. How fearful it has made so many generations of Muslims in America.
Sometimes I wish Muslims were more active in solidarity. I think part of what’s
successful about the state surveillance project is that it has really made us
very afraid. So many of us just sort of try to keep our heads down and accept
the treatment that we’ve been dealt, and are also too afraid to stand up for
anyone else.
BG: Yeah, because you’re consistently
fearful of the consequences.
AAG: Yes, definitely. And there’s also
too many examples of people whose lives have been obliterated in these last two
decades that sort of serve as this stark warning to Muslims not to fight back
BG: Absolutely. In the book too we reach
a point where the three siblings come face to face with this fear and the
consequences of having thrown caution to the wind, especially with what happens
to Lina in that motel. After that, they impose a self quarantine, and we watch
the siblings come toward their faith. Given that we were just talking about how
Muslims can contend with our reality, I am curious about your thoughts on faith
as a source of healing.
AAG: Yeah, that’s also part of the
reason why I wanted to set the book during Ramadan. At the beginning of the
book, Amira sees religion, and she sees Ramadan as just a thing she and her
family does, a thing people in her neighborhood do. She doesn’t really think
too hard about it. One thing I wanted to play with is the fact that Ramadan is
an intense time of self-reflection. Of course, there’s an aspect of
deprivation, of physical hardship to the fast. But really, it’s about this idea
of purifying your mind-body relationship to God. And I wanted to have moments
where Amira is seeing that aspect of her faith in a new way, where she’s
actually able to feel clarified and cleansed through her own religious practice
and through watching her siblings be on their own, parallel journeys with their
faith and healing. They’re supporting each other in that healing too. Sami will
wander away to the window and the girls will coax him back, and they pray
together. And so it’s this idea of creating space for each one of them to heal
within their own religious practice.
Source: electricliterature.com
https://electricliterature.com/aisha-abdel-gawad-novel-interview-between-two-moons/
------
What Islamic Lessons Can We Draw from
The Tragic Story of Mahek and Ansreen Bukhari?
11th August 2023
Maria Akbar ponders the tragic story of
TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother, who were recently convicted of
murder, and says that no matter what crime or sin you have committed the answer
is always repentance to Allah SWT.
On hearing the news regarding TikTok
influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother Ansreen, I feel we must try to take
some Islamic lessons from such tragic news. So this article is an attempt to
safeguard ourselves, our families, our communities from ever falling into the
same atrocities.
How is it that a mother, who by
definition is selfless and should go to all lengths to care and protect her
child, and under whose feet Allah SWT has placed Jannah, plotted and planned
with her daughter to commit such a heinous crime for selfish reasons, and thus
end up serving a life sentence in prison with her?
We know that in Islam, it is said that
whomsoever kills one soul, it is as if they killed all of mankind. So surely
this situation did not happen overnight.
In fact, I would argue, this was years
in the making of shaitaan’s work, to get both mother and daughter to such a
delusional state, that they would think that murdering another individual was a
solution to their problem.
It is clear that shaitaan did nothing
but increase them in their degeneracy over time, until they would literally do
anything as they were no longer bound by Taqwa. Shaitaan is extremely patient
and gradually misguides a person from where they may not even perceive it. It
is mentioned in the Quran in Surah Al-Araf (7:16,17):
“He said: ‘For leaving me to stray I
will lie in ambush for them on Your Straight Path. I will approach them from
their front, their back, their right, their left, and then You will find most
of them ungrateful.'”
An individual may fall into a single
sin, and then slowly increase in their transgression until they reach a point
where they are committing all sorts of sins as their Taqwa has reduced
significantly. At this point, all one needs to do is to turn back to Allah SWT
in repentance, and He will forgive you. However, this would necessitate that
you have good companions who remind you of Him.
Taqwa is one of the most important
qualities for a Muslim to attain. It refers to the level of God-consciousness
that we have, that is doing the good that Allah SWT has enjoined upon us and
staying away from all that He has prohibited us from.
We fast in Ramadan in attempt to attain
Taqwa. We make dua to Allah SWT to make us of the Mutaqeen. Without Taqwa, one
has no boundaries and is free to do as he wishes, to the point a person could
end up worshiping his own desires.
Without Taqwa, anything goes. Therefore,
it is so important as Muslims to continuously work on our level of Taqwa and
instil this quality into our children. This can be done through increasing in
acts of worship such as fasting, surrounding yourself with people who remind
you of Allah SWT, reflecting upon the Quran, and remembering Allah SWT a great
deal.
Hayaa
Another quality that keeps us grounded
as Muslims, is Hayaa, or modesty. It is mentioned in a hadith that modesty is a
part of faith. The modest person has shyness before Allah SWT about committing
transgressions as well as shyness in front of people from behaving in an
immoral manner.
This is tied to the shame that would
come with the wrongdoing. It is the feeling of shame that tells us we are doing
something incorrect. There is a hadith mentioned in Sahih al Bukhari narrated
by Abu Mas’ud:
Murdered: Saqib Hussain (l) and Mohammed
Hashim Ijazuddin. Pic: Leicestershire Police
“The Prophet (pbuh) said: ‘One of the
sayings of the early Prophets which the people have got is: If you don’t feel
ashamed do whatever you like.” (Hadith No 690, 691, Vol 4)
An additional point of reflection is
that our children are entrusted to us by Allah SWT. We must raise them in
accordance with Islam and fulfil the rights they have over us. In fact, Allah
SWT has commanded us to protect ourselves and our families, as mentioned in the
Quran, Surah at Tahrim; 66:6. We are also responsible for our families, just as
it is mentioned in hadith that each of us is a shepherd to its flock, as
narrated in Bukhari.
Therefore, we must be excellent role
models for our children, guiding them towards Islam and instilling Taqwa into
them. If we see our children doing wrong, then we should correct them in
accordance with Islam.
But to be able to guide and correct
them, means by default that we as parents must stand firm in our practise of
the deen ourselves. More so, it is in our best interests to raise our children
to be righteous individuals as they will be a sadaqahjaariyah for us when we
pass away.
It is mentioned in hadith that: “When a
man dies, all his good deeds come to an end except three: ongoing charity,
beneficial knowledge, or a righteous son who will pray for him.” If we raise
our children to be noble people, then even when we leave this dunya we will
continue to earn good deeds when we need it the most.
This situation also teaches us that
there is no good that can come from disobedience to Allah SWT regardless of how
it is perceived by worldly standards.
‘Influencers’
With the advent of social media, there
are many men and women who consider themselves, and are considered by others,
as “influencers.” What is this based on, especially on platforms such as
Tiktok?
I am yet to understand how those who are
committing all sorts of degeneracy on camera are considered as influencers.
They do not offer any skill or value to those who view their material. The
majority of them only offer misguidance and come with the glitter and glamour
of the world. Due to this, youngsters may easily be influenced into thinking
they have attained success.
Some youngsters may even strive to
become “social media influencers” themselves because of how lucrative it
appears to be. However, on the other side of it is the immorality that they
must engage in to become successful. There is no good that can come from
disobedience to Allah SWT.
We must also ask ourselves, what is the
future looking like for our communities if youngsters are taking these sorts of
individuals as their role models? To change this, we must educate parents
themselves to become the best role models for their children and to protect
them from social media applications.
Lastly, in this situation, sadly neither
mother nor daughter felt that turning back to Allah SWT would be a solution to
their problems which led them to continue increasing in their wrongdoings. If
they had only done this, then it would have been their salvation in this world
and the next.
So if you find yourself in a situation
where you have transgressed all bounds, to which there seems to be no way back,
then turn to Allah SWT and do not lose hope in His mercy. Know that there is
always a way out with Allah SWT. And if you put your trust in Him, He will
surely provide a way out for you from every difficulty from avenues you could
never imagine. Ameen.
Source: 5pillarsuk.com
https://5pillarsuk.com/2023/08/11/what-islamic-lessons-can-we-draw-from-the-tragic-story-of-mahek-and-ansreen-bukhari/
------
Crackdown on Hijab Violators: Hundreds
of Vehicles Impounded in Iranian Province
AUGUST 11, 2023
Police in Iran’s East Azerbaijan
province say they have impounded 439 vehicles and initiated legal proceedings
against a number of women accused of non-compliance with the Islamic Republic’s
mandatory headscarf laws.
Provincial police commander Ali
Mohammadi said on August 10 that women who disregard police warnings about
hijab violations "will be referred to the judicial system."
He declined to provide the number of
women facing legal cases.
Mohammadi also said that restaurant and
coffee shop owners are responsible for ensuring that their customers comply
with hijab regulations and warned that those who fail to do so could face legal
consequences.
According to Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi,
the police command spokesperson, a total of 991,176 SMSs were sent to vehicle
owners across Iran between April 15 to June 15 warning them to abide by the
compulsory hijab rules. As many as 2,000 vehicles were impounded during that
period of time, he said.
The intensifying crackdown on women
flouting the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code comes as parliament amended
the government's Hijab and Chastity bill from 15 articles to 70.
The proposed legislation, which would
impose harsher penalties for hijab violations, has been met with widespread
criticism from human rights groups.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/119400-crackdown-on-hijab-violators-hundreds-of-vehicles-impounded-in-iranian-province/
--------
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/female-journalist-iran-sunni-cleric-shia/d/130434