Iranian Women Defy Hijab Laws during Mourning Month of Muharram
New Age
Islam News Bureau
28 July 2023
• Iranian Women Defy Hijab Laws during Mourning
Month of Muharram
• Iranian Photojournalist, Yalda Moaiery,
Recognized for Covering Women's Rights
• Chilean Woman Embraces Islam, Marries PakistaniSocial
Media Friend in Charsadda
• Egyptian Female Inmates Face Privacy Violations
Inside Prison Cells: Rights Group
• New Bill Proposes Heavy Hijab Fines For Iran’s
Celebrities
• Iran: IFJ Condemns Trials of Two Women
Journalists Accused of Spying
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iranian-hijab-muharram/d/130319
----
Iranian
Women Defy Hijab Laws during Mourning Month of Muharram
Picture: Arash Khamoosh/NYT
------
JULY 27,
2023
Women
and girls in Iran continue to defy mandatory headscarf laws during the
traditional mourning month of Muharram, despite an intensifying clampdown on
violations of the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
Muharram
will culminate in Ashura on July 28, the holiest day on the Shia calendar, when
worshipers traditionally gather for large demonstrations of high-scale mourning
to mark the death of Hossein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad,
during the seventh-century Battle of Karbala.
This
year, videos shared on social media ahead of the religious festival show that
many women continue to appear in public without hijab, in an act of defiance
against the ideology and laws of the Islamic Republic.
A clip
surfaced on July 27, the ninth day of Muharram, depicting women in a Tehran
metro station without head coverings while a religious lamentation is being
broadcast.
Another
clip emerged showcasing women without hijab sitting in a cafe in Tehran's
Fareshteh Street despite the presence of mourners chanting nearby.
Supporters
of the Islamic Republic, Friday imams and radical clerics have urged security
institutions to take aggressive measures against women flouting the compulsory
hijab rules during Muharram.
On July
26, Hamshahri Online quoted influential Iranian cleric Hossein Ansarian as
saying: "The enemy aims to strip Muslim women and girls half-naked and
throw them into banks, schools, parks, universities, and offices."
Earlier
this month, Morality Police patrols returned to the streets of Iranian cities
to enforce compulsory veiling, as a growing number of women have appeared in
public without hijab since nationwide protests erupted in September last year.
Some
defiant women have been arrested, summoned by the authorities and faced legal
cases, while small businesses and shopping malls have been shut down for
purportedly failing to enforce hijab rules on their customers.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/118922-iranian-women-defy-hijab-laws-during-mourning-month-of-muharram/
--------
Iranian
Photojournalist, Yalda Moaiery, Recognized for Covering Women's Rights
Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery is the recipient of the 2023
International Women's Media Foundation's Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women
Journalists Award. (Photo courtesy of the family of Yalda Moaiery)
------
July 27,
2023
Yalda Moaiery
has traveled to some of the most dangerous countries in the world in her
23-year career. She photographed the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and has
covered conflict and natural disasters from Pakistan to Somalia.
But it
was while photographing protests in her home country of Iran last September
that Moaiery was arrested, beaten and sent to prison.
The
41-year-old journalist was released on bail in December and is now awaiting a
summons to start serving her sentence: a six-year prison term on anti-state
charges, followed by a two-year ban from using social media and leaving the
country and a three-year ban from practicing journalism.
Despite
that, Moaiery has continued to work. Her fearlessness and tenacity have earned
her this year's International Women's Media Foundation, or IWMF, Wallis
Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award.
Established
in 2021, the award recognizes imprisoned women journalists who have
demonstrated courage under extreme threat. That’s something Elisa Lees Muñoz,
executive director of the IWMF, says Moaiery exemplifies.
"She
is the epitome of an incredibly courageous woman journalist," Muñoz told
VOA. "And how ironic that it's in her own country, covering her community,
that she is not only thrown in jail but also beaten and reporting on what is
happening to her while she is being driven off to prison."
Top
jailer of journalists
Moaiery
is one of at least 95 journalists imprisoned in Iran since last September,
according to media rights groups. Many were arrested for covering the protests
that erupted after the death of MahsaAmini, a young Kurdish woman who died
while in police custody.
At least
24 of those were women, making Iran the top jailer of both journalists and
women journalists in the world.
As
Moaiery said in a written statement shared with VOA, "I am receiving this
award while the job of journalist has disappeared in my country."
Muñoz
agrees.
"We
feel really strongly that these journalists are not getting the attention that
they deserve because it is being subsumed as part of this general protest where
hundreds of women are being targeted," Muñoz told VOA. "And we feel
that the distinction here is absolutely critical — that these women are being
targeted because of their work and because they're women, not necessarily
because they are participating in part of a public protest."
Also of
concern, said Muñoz, are accounts of women "in Iranian prisons being
sexually assaulted."
"They're
also being beaten. They're also being tortured in other ways that, of course,
we have heard [that] men experience, but there is always that added element
that has to do with their gender," Muñoz told VOA.
Iran's
mission at the United Nations did not respond to VOA's emailed request for
comment.
Crackdown
on dissent
Media
coverage of the protest movement may have lessened in recent months, but the
protests are still taking place, even if on a smaller scale, said Yeganeh
Rezaian, a senior researcher at the New York-based Committee to Protect
Journalists, or CPJ.
And
authorities are still arresting journalists and putting others on trial. Just
this week, Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who were among the first to be
arrested for their coverage of Amini's case, appeared before a Tehran court for
a second trial. They have already spent more than 300 days in prison.
Adding
to the pressures, many of those released on bail are banned from working in
media while they await summons to begin their sentence. With no means of making
a living and uncertainty about when they will be taken to prison, many must
rely on friends and family for support.
"Everyone
has been kept in darkness and uncertainty," said Rezaian.
Iran has
long used harsh treatment to send a message to its critics. Doing so, she said,
is "meant to send an alarm to everyone else that this is going to be your
destiny if you keep doing what you're doing or if you do similar things like
your other colleagues."
But
journalists like Moaiery refuse to be silenced.
Rezaian,
who knows Moaiery from her time living and working as a journalist in Iran,
refers to her friend and colleague as "fearless and very fierce."
She
cites Moaiery's work not only in war zones, but also at home in Iran,
documenting young women's struggles with mandatory hijab, and always being one
of the first to cover nationwide protests.
"She
was arrested in the very first week of [the 2022] protests, which shows how
much she was willing to risk," Rezaian told VOA. "And this is not the
first time that her perseverance got her into the hands of the officials
because she has done this many, many times for the good of the country and the
women and the stories that she covers."
While
Rezaian is grateful that Moaiery has received recognition for her courage, she
hopes the award will bring attention to the dozens of other journalists and the
many women who are struggling under the Iranian regime.
Moaiery
echoed Rezaian's sentiments.
"Journalists
are threatened and arrested every moment, and two of our colleagues are still
in prison for more than 300 days," she wrote in a statement shared with
VOA.
"Apart
from the problems and issues of a journalism job, as women every day we are
facing the violation of civil rights and the risk of being arrested for [not]
wearing a voluntary hijab."
She
added, "Receiving such award for me and other Iranian women means that our
voices are heard."
Source: voanews.com
https://www.voanews.com/a/epitome-of-courage-iranian-photojournalist-recognized-for-covering-women-s-rights/7200995.html
--------
Chilean
Woman Embraces Islam, Marries Pakistani Social Media Friendin Charsadda
July 28,
2023
CHARSADDA:
A South American woman, who reached Charsadda earlier this week, embraced Islam
and married her social media friend here on Thursday.
The
woman, Nikoli Anara Gulsalos, hails from the South American country, Chile. She
had developed friendship with Ikramullah of Bhusakhel village on social media.
She
reached Charsadda three days ago and later contracted marriage in a local court.
The
woman has embraced Islam and has been renamed as Noreen.
MrIkramullah
told this scribe that he used to upload videos on the social media platform
TikTok. He said he had first time saw MsGulsalos in April and they soon
developed a friendship.
Source: dawn.com
https://www.dawn.com/news/1767138/chilean-woman-marries-tiktok-friend-in-charsadda
---------
Egyptian
female inmates face privacy violations inside prison cells: rights group
27 July,
2023
Several
female detainees recently moved to a new prison in the 10th of Ramadan City in
northern Sharqiya province claimed that authorities had been violating their
privacy by installing surveillance cameras inside their cells.
In a
letter leaked to Egyptian human rights groups written by one of the primarily
female political detainees, the author claimed that "[she] and her fellows
are being under surveillance around the clock, which violates their privacy and
puts them under an immense amount of pressure," said the El-Shehab Centre
for Human Rights.
When the
women voiced their objection to this procedure, they were informed by the
prison administration that they were following the orders imposed by the
interior minister, which led the prisoners "to remain fully dressed,
wearing their veil day and night for fear of the recorded footage being used
against them."
"The
female detainees sleep in shifts so they can cover each other's bodies in case
any part is exposed," the anonymous prisoner added in her desperate
letter.
"The
feed of the surveillance cameras is monitored by 12 different security entities
and offices…including the presidency, the prison officers and the state
security," the rights group explained.
The
prisoners directed their complaint to the National Council for Women for
"allegedly being exposed to a human rights violation, a breach of privacy
and harassment."
The
interior ministry has not commented officially at the time of publishing.
Since
President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi came to power in a military coup against the
first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi, Egypt has become one of
the worst states for human rights abuses.
Several
groups have in recent years reported human rights violations committed against
women prisoners in Egypt, especially activists, journalists and political
dissidents.
Such
alleged infringements include the policing of women's "morality' and
persecuting high-profile young women on social media, as well as rape victims
who discuss their experiences publicly.
Source: newarab.com
https://www.newarab.com/news/egyptian-women-face-privacy-violations-prison-group
---------
New Bill
Proposes Heavy Hijab Fines For Iran’s Celebrities
A
parliament committee in Iran has passed a hijab bill proposing to confiscate up
to 10 percent of celebrities' assets and incomes if they violate hijab rules.
Hardliners
on social media support the severe punishments, aiming to deter celebrities and
influencers from defying hijab rules.
Hossein-Ali
Haji-Deligani, a former high-ranking Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) officer and
hardline lawmaker in the parliament's judicial committee, described the bill as
considering any action that weakens the family, including nudity, immorality,
unveiling, and inappropriate clothing, as a crime. The bill defines
"nudity" as appearing in public in clothing considered nude by social
norms and will be punishable by a cash fine of 1 to 1.5 billion rials and a
prison term of six months to ten years.
Haji-Deligani
emphasized that the bill, named "Protection of Family Through Promotion of
Hijab and Chastity Culture," includes measures against individuals
“connected with foreign governments” and “media outside Iran” promoting nudity,
immorality, unveiling, and inappropriate dressing with heavy sentences.
This was
a clear reference to regime opponent and critical media, such as Iran
International, the BBC Persian Service and others.
Since
March, hardliners have attempted to end women's increasing defiance of
compulsory hijab and reclaim lost ground, but their efforts have been
unsuccessful. The draft bill, jointly prepared by the government and judiciary,
faced strong criticism from hardliners for its perceived leniency towards
unveiling.
Apart
from unveiling, the bill also targets individuals who confront citizens in public,
use violence, and threaten unveiled women. Radical clerics have incited
citizens to take the law into their own hands as a moral duty.
If
approved, adherence to hijab laws would become a criterion for employment in
public or private organizations in the future. Clothing that reveals the neck,
arms above the wrist, and legs above the ankles will be considered
"inappropriate clothing" and will be punishable by a cash fine of up
to 500 million rials ($1,000) for the first infringement.
Not
covering the head will also be punishable by a cash fine of 240 to 500 million
rials for the first instance and up to 1.5 billion rials if repeated more than
four times.
The
hijab bill also bans taking photos or videos of police while enforcing hijab, but
details of proposed punishments have not been made public yet.
Female
employees and visitors are still sometimes inspected by female inspectors
before entering government buildings to ensure compliance with regulations
regarding their tunic, pants, and headscarves or Maghna'e (pullover headscarf
with stitched front).
In the
first two decades of the Islamic Revolution, inspectors also ensured women's
hair did not show from under their headscarf or Maghna'e, and they did not wear
makeup, nail polish, or "inappropriate accessories." Clothing
generally had to be black, brown, navy, gray, or beige and very loose-fitting.
Over the
years, the rules were relatively relaxed depending on which political faction
was in power, and some makeup and a little color in clothing became more
acceptable.
In July
2022, after weeks of harsh measures on the streets, President Ebrahim Raisi
ordered all government entities to strictly implement a “chastity and hijab”
law approved by the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council under hardliner Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad in 2005.
Shortly
after, the death of 22-year-old MahsaAmini in the custody of hijab enforcers
fueled protests that spread throughout the country.
Source: iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202307274327
--------
Iran: IFJ
condemns trials of two women journalists accused of spying
The
separate trials of NiloofarHamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who have been imprisoned
since September 2022, were held in branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court
earlier this week. As happened with the first court hearings on 29 and 30 May,
2023, the trials were held in private and without the presence of media,
despite repeated demands from the TPJA, the IFJ and other organisations for
them to be held in public.
In
November, 2022, the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Organisation
of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp accused both journalists of “conspiring
with hostile foreign powers”. Spying charges carry the death penalty in the
country.
On 25
July, Hamedi, who reported on Amini’s death in police custody for the reformist
Shargh newspaper, stood trial. After the hearing, her lawyer PartoBorhanpour,
told the media that "the investigation of his client was completed on 30
October, 2022, so there was no justification for her continued arrest".
Hamedi’s
husband, Mohammad Hossein Ajorlou, wrote on Twitter that his wife declared in
front of the court that “she is proud of her journalistic work”. Her family is
awaiting the court’s decision in the coming days.
On 26
July, the second court proceeding of Mohammadi, who covered Amini’s funeral in
the Kurdish region of Saqqez for the Hammihan newspaper, was held. Mohammadi’s
husband, Saeed Parsaie, shared some paragraphs of his wife's defence on
Twitter. “In my 15 years of professional activity, I only stepped on the path
of reflecting people's voices and improving their lives. [...] I have had no
connection with any foreign government, and I am proud to stay with the people
to be their voice."
According
to her husband’s tweets, she continued: "NiloofarHamedi and I are
representatives of the noble and suffering body of Iranian journalists, and now
we are on tral."
Following
the outbreak of the nationwide protests after the death in police custody of
MahsaAmini, the TPJA set up a committee to monitor the cases of jailed
journalists and tried to negotiate their release with the Iranian authorities.
It is worth noting that none of the TPJA’s representatives were allowed in the
courtroom. That was the case for both
Hamadi’s and Mohammadi’s hearings.
IFJ
President Dominique Pradalié said: “The imprisonment of journalists for simply
doing their job sends an alarming sign at the international level. We reiterate
our condemnation of the unfounded accusations against our colleagues,
NiloofarHamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, and urge the Iranian authorities to drop
all charges against them. Journalism is not a crime and the Islamic Republic
must release all jailed journalists and media workers in the country.”
Families
and friends of the two journalists have launched a campaign on social media to
support Hamadi and Mohammadi and call for their release, sharing posts with the
hashtag #Elahe_Niloofar.
Journalists
currently in jail:
1-
MrsNiloofarHamedi, a journalist and reporter at Shargh newspaper, was arrested
at her home in Tehran on 22 September 2022.
2-
MrsElahe Mohammadi, a journalist and reporter at Hammihan newspaper, was
arrested at her home in Tehran on 23 September.
3-
MrsFarkhondehAshoori, a freelance journalist and former reporter at Fars news
agency, was arrested in Shiraz city on 17 October.
4-
MrsMaral Dar Afarin, a local journalist in Gilan province, was arrested on 1
November.
5-
MrRebawaSaidmohamadi, a Sahar TV journalist, was arrested last year after
returning from Iraq Kurdistan and sentenced to seven years in jail.
6-
MrKamyarFakoor, the Khabaronlinelabour reporter, has been in jail since 9 May
2023 and is serving a nine-month jail term.
7-
MrsNazilaMaroufian, a freelance journalist, was arrested on 17 July after being
summoned to Tehran's prosecution office.
Source: ifj.org
https://www.ifj.org/media-centre/news/detail/category/press-releases/article/iran-ifj-condemns-trials-of-two-women-journalists-accused-of-spying
--------
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iranian-hijab-muharram/d/130319