Iranian “Chastity and Hijab” Bill To Target Government Officials Not Supporting The Crackdown On Hijab Refusers
New Age
Islam News Bureau
29 December 2023
·
Iranian
“Chastity and Hijab” Bill To Target Government Officials Not Supporting The
Crackdown On Hijab Refusers
·
PTI
Supporter Khadija Shah Released By Quetta ATC In May 9 Case For Want Of
Evidence: Lawyer
·
Iranian
Political Prisoner Fatemeh Sepehri’s Health Deteriorates
·
Iran's
Khamenei Suggests West Destroys Women’s Dignity In Social Media Post
·
Gaza
Mother Walks 5km To Hospital, Gives Birth To Quadruplets
·
No
Coercive Action Against RSS Leader For Allegedly Insulting Muslim Women:
Karnataka HC
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iranian-chastity-hijab/d/131414
------
Iranian “Chastity and Hijab” Bill To
Target Government Officials Not Supporting The Crackdown On Hijab Refusers
Photo: Iran
Wire
-----
DECEMBER 29, 2023
An Iranian lawmaker says the “Chastity
and Hijab” bill will extend to government officials not supporting the
crackdown on hijab refusers.
“Our main and most serious argument in
this bill is to tackle professional hijab criminals”, Mehdi Baqeri, a member of
the Judiciary Commission of the Iranian Parliament, told Rouydad24 news
website.
He blamed governmental institutions in
Iran for not meeting their obligations with regard to the implementation of
compulsory hijab laws, adding that in case of the final ratification of the
“Chastity and Hijab” bill, the officials negligent on their hijab duties will
face legal measures.
According to the lawmaker, the bill will
criminalize the government officials’ “shortcomings and inefficiencies”
regarding hijab enforcement and they can even be fired from their jobs.
We have companies in Iran that promote
“the culture of nudity” by producing “unconventional” and “vulgar” clothes, and
there are people who sell these items, Bagheri added, urging the “severe and
harsh” punishment of both groups.
In September, the Iranian parliament
green lit a bill titled “Protection of Family Through Promotion of Hijab and
Chastity Culture.” Initially introduced by the government and subsequently
amended by parliamentary hardliners, the legislation outlined penalties,
including substantial fines, for women diverging from the prescribed Islamic
dress code.
Unexpectedly, the constitutionally
mandated 12-member Guardian Council, wielding ultimate authority over legislation,
rejected the bill. The Council cited formal deficiencies, including the
ambiguity of specific terms in the text, prompting a call for parliamentary
revisions.
While some speculate that the rejection
stems from formal issues, others posit that the Guardian Council may be
cautious about potential increased public discontent before the upcoming
parliamentary elections in March.
Source: iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202312286695
----
PTI Supporter Khadija Shah Released By
Quetta ATC In May 9 Case For Want Of Evidence: Lawyer
File
photo/Khadija Shah
----
December 28, 2023
PTI supporter and fashion designer
Khadija Shah was released by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta on
Thursday for want of evidence in a case relating to incitement to violence on
May 9, according to her lawyer.
Khadija was arrested in cases of attacks
on the Lahore corps commander’s house, Askari Tower and torching police
vehicles near Rahat bakery in the cantonment on May 9.
On Nov 15, an anti-terrorism court had
granted her bail in the fourth and last case of May 9 protests against her.
However, she was re-arrested on Nov 17 under the Maintenance of Public Order
(MPO) ordinance for 30 days. She had subsequently challenged the detention in
the Lahore High Court as “unlawful and unconstitutional” and on December 11,
the Punjab government submitted a notification in the LHC, stating that it had
withdrawn her detention orders “with immediate effect”.
However, before she could be released,
the Quetta police had filed a request in the ATC of Judge Abhar Gul seeking her
transit remand. The court accepted the request and granted the investigating
officer her custody for two days. Khadija was produced before Judge Sadat Bazai
again after the expiry of her three-day police remand on December 16 and
remanded again in police custody for seven days.
Her counsel Syed Iqbal Shah told
Dawn.com today that the Balochistan Prosecution Department dropped Khadija’s
name from the first information report, citing a lack of concrete evidence
against the PTI supporter.
Syed Iqbal said that he had applied to
the ATC arguing that Khadija’s name was included in cases on the May 9
violence, however, the police did not have any concrete evidence against her in
this regard.
He said he had requested the court that
his client’s name should be dropped based on lack of evidence.
Iqbal said that the police had requested
Khadija’s further remand in a court hearing today for more investigation,
adding that the ATC had asked for further evidence which was not provided by
the police.
He said the government prosecutor
present had told the ATC that the prosecution department had dropped her name
from the case under Section 169 of the Criminal Procedure Code due to a lack of
concrete evidence. The judge subsequently ordered her release.
Reacting to the news of the day-old
development, PTI leader Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari said he was “extremely
happy” that Khadija was on her way back to her family.
In a post on his X account, Bukhari
said: “ Her resilience and strength is an inspiration to us all. Wishing her a
peaceful time with her family and may Allah give her strength to continue to be
the strong, wonderful person she is.“
Lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir
congratulated Khadija on her release after seven months,
“Her prolonged imprisonment was a way to
punish her without a trial,” Nasir said on X, adding that “nine women arrested
in relation to May 9 incidents are still behind bars paying the price for their
political beliefs.”
Actor Osman Khalid Butt said it took
seven months for “some semblance of justice” for the fashion designer.
“What happened to Khadija Shah — and all
the peaceful protestors imprisoned post-May 9 — is unconscionable. May the
remaining nine women be released soon,” he said.
Source: dawn.com
https://www.dawn.com/news/1801415/khadija-shah-released-by-quetta-atc-in-may-9-case-for-want-of-evidence-lawyer
-----
Iranian Political Prisoner
FatemehSepehri’s Health Deteriorates
December 28, 2023
FatemehSepehri, a political prisoner at
Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, is reportedly in critical condition, according to
her lawyer, Khosrow Ali-Kordi.
Ali-Kordi warned, "Due to an
elevated heart rate, my client can hardly speak, and her respiratory condition
is a serious concern."
In a social media video, Sepehri's
brother, Asghar Sepehri, revealed, "In Tuesday's meeting, my sister's
heart rate was so high that speaking was difficult for her."
The family holds the Supreme Leader of
the Islamic Republic responsible for the imprisonment of Sepehri, as emphasized
by her mother in the video, stating that if anything happens to her, Ali
Khamenei would be accountable.
Imprisoned since September 21, 2022 amid
the Women, Life, Freedom protests, Sepehri faces severe charges, including
"collaboration with hostile countries" resulting in a 10-year
sentence, "conspiracy and collusion" leading to five years of
imprisonment, "insulting the leadership" resulting in two years of
imprisonment, and "propaganda against the system" leading to one year
of imprisonment.
Despite a brief release in October 2022
for medical treatment, Sepehri was re-arrested three days later at her home in
Mashhad by security forces.
She is the latest in a long line of
prisoners such as rapper ToomajSalehi and Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi,
whose lives remain threatened in the confines of Iranian prisons.
Source: iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202312287874
-----
Iran's Khamenei suggests West destroys
women’s dignity in social media post
DECEMBER 29, 2023
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei took to social media this week to chastise the West over the treatment
of women, a move which has attracted incredulity given Iran's record on women's
rights.
"In the West, #women’s dignity is
being shattered more and more every day. All of the things that destroy the
#family are increasing by the day in the West," Khamenei wrote on X
(formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
In the West, #women’s dignity is being
shattered more and more every day. All of the things that destroy the #family
are increasing by the day in the West.
The Islamic Republic has come under
increased scrutiny and criticism for women's rights in the country in the past
year, after protests erupted nationwide in September 2022 after the death of
Mahsa Amini. Amini died on September 16 after she was arrested by Iran's
Guidance Patrol, also known as the "morality police,” for improperly
covering her hair with a hijab. Although her family was informed that she had
suffered a heart attack while in custody, it is widely believed she was
tortured and beaten to death.
Her death sparked protests across Iran
as women removed hijabs and proudly showed off their hair, while general
disenchantment with the Islamic hardline regime also came to the fore. At least
15,000 people were arrested over the subsequent months, although numbers are
difficult to verify, with at least 551 protesters, including 68 minors, killed,
according to Iran Human Rights, a Norwegian-based NGO that focuses on human
rights in Iran.
A community comment on Khamenei's X post
stated, "The Iranian regime protects the dignity of women by having
religious police beat and torture them to death like Mahsa Ahmini."
Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that
brought the hardliners to power, Iran was seen as a more moderate Muslim
country where women were not required to dress according to Islamic law and
makeup was permitted.
Iran ranks poorly for women's rights
A
2023 report by Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security
(GIWPS) found Iran ranked 140th, out of 177 nations ranked.
Source: jpost.com
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-780001
------
Gaza mother walks 5km to hospital, gives
birth to quadruplets
Dec 29, 2023
Lying on a foam mattress in a schoolroom
turned shelter for her and her extended family, Iman recounts her journey from
hell.
Iman al-Masry is simply exhausted after
giving birth to quadruplets in a hospital in southern Gaza, miles away from her
home in the north of the war-torn Palestinian territory.
Days into the Israel-Hamas war sparked
by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, the young woman fled the family home in
Beit Hanun on foot with her three other children seeking safety.
They walked five kilometres (three
miles) to the Jabalia refugee camp, looking for a means of transport that would
take them to Deir al-Balah further south.
Iman was six months pregnant and
"the distance was too long", she told AFP.
"It affected my pregnancy,"
added the 28-year-old mother, who gave birth by C-section on December 18 to
daughters Tia and Lynn and sons Yasser and Mohammed.
But Iman was quickly asked to leave the
hospital with the newborns -- minus Mohammed who was too fragile to go with
them -- to make room for other patients of the war.
Now, with Tia, Lynn and Yasser, they
live in a cramped schoolroom turned shelter in Deir al-Balah along with around
50 other members of their extended family.
"Mohammed weighs only one kilogramme
(2.2 pounds). He cannot survive," she said of the child she left behind at
a hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Lying on a foam mattress in a schoolroom
turned shelter for her and her extended family, Iman recounts her journey from
hell.
"When I left home, I had only some
summer clothes for the children. I thought the war would last a week or two and
that afterwards we would go back home," she said.
More than 11 weeks later, her hope of
ever going back are shattered.
The Gaza Strip, home to 2.4 million
people, lies in ruins from the north to the south. According to UN estimates,
the fighting has displaced 1.9 million Palestinians internally.
The conflict erupted when Hamas gunmen
attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of about 1,140 people, mostly
civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Palestinian militants also took around
250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in captivity, Israel says.
Israel retaliated with a relentless
bombardment and a siege of Gaza followed by a ground invasion from October 27.
The campaign has killed at least 21,110
people, according to the latest toll issued by Gaza's health ministry, about
two thirds of them women and children.
- 'Helpless' -
Like other mothers, Iman had hoped to
follow tradition and celebrate the birth of her babies by "dousing them
with rose water", she said.
But 10 days on "we have not even
been able to bathe them", she said, because of the difficulty of finding
clear water in the devastated territory, where there is a dire shortage of
basic food stuff, including milk, medicine and hygienic supplies such as
diapers.
"Normally I would change babies'
diapers every two hours. But the situation is difficult and I must be
thrifty," she said, adding that the newborns get only a fresh diaper in
the morning and another in the evening.
Her husband Ammar al-Masry, 33, said he
is devastated because he cannot provide for his family.
"I feel helpless," he said,
surrounded by his six children in the foul-smelling schoolroom.
"I fear for my children. I don't
know how to protect them," he said, adding that he spends most of his days
outdoors searching for food.
“Tia (who has jaundice) must be
breastfed and my wife needs nutritious food that contains protein. The children
need milk and diapers. But I cannot get any of that.”
Source: hindustantimes.com
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/gaza-mother-walks-5km-to-hospital-gives-birth-to-quadruplets-101703816958938.html
-----
No coercive action against RSS leader
for allegedly insulting Muslim women: Karnataka HC
29th December 2023
BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka
has directed the state not to take coercive action against RSS leader
KalladkaPrabhakar Bhat for his speech on December 24 in Srirangapatna,
allegedly insulting Muslim women.
The vacation bench of Justice Rajesh
Rai, who heard the petition by Bhat, on Thursday issued notices to the state
and the complainant in the case and directed the State Public Prosecutor not to
take coercive action till the next date of hearing.
The arrest of Bhat in the case,
therefore, is stalled.
Senior advocate Arun Shyam, who appeared
for Bhat, argued that the case was politically motivated and the RSS leader had
only stated facts which were protected under the right to speech.
Najma Nazeer, a social worker, had
lodged the complaint and the police in Srirangapatna had booked Bhat under
Sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her
modesty), 294 (dealing with uttering obscene words in a public place), 509 (
Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 153A
(promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion), 295
(Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of
any class), 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious
feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 298
(deliberate hurting of religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Meanwhile, the III Additional District
and Sessions Judge in Mandya granted bail to Bhat in the Srirangapatna case
following his submission about his health condition.
Bhat underwent cardiovascular surgery on
April 5, 2022.
"Hence there is substance in the
contention of the petitioner that he is suffering from severe cardiac health
issues," the Sessions Court noted, and citing earlier Supreme Court
judgements, granted Bhat anticipatory bail.
He was directed to submit a personal
bond for Rs 2 lakh and a surety for a like sum.
The Sessions Court, however, clarified
that the "investigator is at liberty to interrogate him as provided under
relevant provisions of the CrPC."
Source: newindianexpress.com
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/2023/dec/29/no-coercive-action-against-rss-leader-for-allegedly-insulting-muslim-women-karnataka-hc-2645995.html
-----
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iranian-chastity-hijab/d/131414