Mehbooba Mufti’s Daughter Iltija Mufti Gets ‘UAE-Specific’ Passport With 2-Year Validity
New Age Islam News Bureau
07 April 2023
• Saudi Mission To Space To See Kingdom's First Female
Astronaut, RayyanahBarnawi
• Iran's Leader: West Not Qualified to Comment on
Women's Rights
• Marry Hindu Boys For A Happy Life, VHP Leader Sadhvi
Prachi’s Advice To Muslim Girls
• Propelled By Female Employment, Saudi Jobless Rate
Hits Historic Milestone
• Saudi Women’s U-17 national team captain aims to
inspire Saudi girls
• Women Own 40% Of 1.3 Million Saudi Commercial
Registers
• Iran Finds New Ways To Crack Down On Women Not
Wearing Hijab
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
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Mehbooba Mufti’s Daughter Iltija Mufti Gets
‘UAE-Specific’ Passport With 2-Year Validity
Apr 7, 2023
Iltija had filed a writ petition before the High Court
of Jammu and Kashmir seeking directions to the Regional Passport Officer
Srinagar to issue her passport. Special arrangement
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SRINAGAR: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija
Mufti, who wishes to pursue higher studies abroad, has been issued a passport
that will be valid only for the UAE and for a limited period of two years.
Iltija, 35, had approached the J&K high court
after the travel document was denied by the regional passport office, citing an
adverse report from CID.
After two years, an assessment will be done and a
decision taken accordingly on further validity, passport officer (Srinagar),
Davinder Singh, said. Iltija told PTI that no favour had been extended by
issuing her passport and wondered why the document was valid only for two years
when usually it has a 10-year validity.
She alleged that CID’s submission to court was full of
“bald-faced lies” and that the department had infringed upon her rights by
filing an adverse report “to ensure my passport is not issued”.
Iltija’s passport expired on January 2 this year.
Source: Times Of India
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Saudi Mission To Space To See Kingdom's First Female
Astronaut, RayyanahBarnawi
6 Apr 2023
Rayyanah Barnawi, Saudi Arabia's first female
astronaut. — Reuters
------
Two astronauts from Saudi Arabia, including the first
Saudi woman, will blast off from Florida on May 8 on a private mission to the
International Space Station (ISS), Axiom Space and Nasa officials said on
Thursday.
RayyanahBarnawi, a breast cancer researcher, will
become the first Saudi woman to voyage into space and will be joined on the
mission by fellow Saudi Ali Al Qarni, a fighter pilot.
Also on board will be Peggy Whitson, a former Nasa
astronaut who will be making her fourth flight to the ISS, and John Shoffner, a
businessman from Tennessee who will serve as pilot.
Liftoff of Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) aboard a SpaceX
Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for 10:43 pm Eastern Time on May 8 (0243 GMT on
May 9) from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Axiom Space and NASA officials
said in a briefing to preview the flight.
The four-member crew will travel to the ISS aboard a
SpaceX Dragon capsule and spend 10 days aboard the orbiting space station.
The mission to the ISS will be the second by Axiom
Space, a private space company.
Axiom Space carried out its first private astronaut
mission to the ISS in April 2022. Four astronauts spent 17 days in orbit as
part of Ax-1.
The space mission involving a Saudi woman is the
latest move by the kingdom to revamp its ultra-conservative image.
But it is not the oil-rich kingdom's first foray into
space.
In 1985, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, an
air force pilot, took part in a US-organized space voyage.
The neighbouring United Arab Emirates has also taken
part in space missions and an Emirati astronaut, Sultan Al Neyadi, arrived on
the ISS a month ago for a six-month stay.
Source: Khaleej Times
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/space/may-8-launch-for-private-mission-to-iss-with-saudi-astronauts
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Iran's Leader: West Not Qualified to Comment on
Women's Rights
2023-April-6
TEHRAN (FNA)- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei condemned the Western countries' instrumental use
of human rights, and underlined that the US and the European states are in no
position to claim the role of advocates of women's rights.
---------------
The Leader made the comment in a meeting with a group
of Iranian poets and Persian literature academics in Tehran on Wednesday.
During the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei described the
pharmaceutical sanctions and the prevention of delivery of vaccines under
various pretexts as other examples of the West’s attacks against Iran.
“If they could do something to deprive Islamic Iran
and its people of food, they would not hesitate to do so,” he stated.
The Supreme Leader considered the media onslaught as
another part of the diverse attack of ill-wishers against Iran, outlining the
fact that they use thousands of forms of media to promote lies, rumors and
unconventionalities.
"The enemy's goal from this attack is to deprive
intellectual and educational strengths and to weaken the spirit of
independence, national perseverance, Islamic unity and practice," he
argued.
He regarded the weakening of faith and religiosity of
women as another one of the targets aimed against Iran and pointed out the
effective role that women played in the victory of the Islamic Revolution and
the stages after it.
Westerners have no pity for Iranian women nor do they
have any respect for their rights. Rather, they have a grudge against Iranian
women and falsely present themselves as supporters of freedom and women's
rights," Ayatollah Khamenei underscored.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution stressed that
"the West isn’t worthy of being the ones to talk about human rights at
all".
"They are the enemies of humankind! We saw their
human rights in the DAESH, when they burned people alive or sunk them in water
and drowned them before everyone’s eyes. We saw [their human rights] in their
support of the MEK terrorists and in their support of Saddam Hussein.and their crimes
against Gaza and the Palestinians," he stated.
Ayatollah Khamenei argued that the West's support for
the assassination and killing of religious youth in the streets of Tehran is
another example of the falsity of their claim of supporting human rights.
"Our most virtuous youths, such as Arman Aliverdi
and Ruhollah Ajamian were killed by torture and via Western media incitement
and training," he added.
He emphasized the need to recognize the enemy as well
as their goals, strategies and targets.
“Understanding the dimensions of the enemy’s soft war
is a requirement for everyone, but it is mostly essential for those who are
active in the cultural and artistic fields so that they can prevent themselves
from getting influenced by it, and to make others aware of the enemy’s
onslaught,” the Leader continued.
Protests erupted in several cities across Iran over
the death of MahsaAmini who fainted at a police station in mid-September and
days later was pronounced dead at a hospital. The demonstrations soon turned
violent.
An official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine
Organization announced that Amini’s controversial death was caused by an
illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.
Iranian officials blame Western countries for
orchestrating the riots to destabilize the country.
The unrest has claimed the lives of dozens of people
and security forces, while also allowing acts of terror and sabotage across the
country. Iran's Interior Ministry has confirmed the enemy waged a hybrid war
against the country to weaken national solidarity and hinder the country's
progress, stressing that some 200 people lost their lives in the riots sparked
by separatist and terrorist groups.
The US, the UK and the European Union (EU) have
imposed a slew of sanctions against Iranian individuals and legal entities
since the September death in police custody of an Iranian woman. Iran has
returned the adversarial measures and meddlesome statements with sanctions
against European, American and British officials and institutions.
Iran blasts the blatant violations of human rights in
the US and Europe, stressing for the US, human rights is merely a tool for
exerting political pressure on independent states to advance their foreign
policy objectives. Officials in Tehran call on the international community to
hold the US accountable for its crimes. They mocked the US claim over
supporting Iranian women and girls amid harsh sanctions which have disrupted
the ordinary lives of the people.
Tehran has also denounces the disturbing human rights
situation in the European countries, and note the West does not have the
authority to be the flag-bearer in this field.
Iranian officials have numerously urged the
international organizations to condemn police brutality against women in the
United States and European states, instead of expressing concern over human
rights in other countries.
Source: Fars News Agency
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14020117000173/Iran's-Leader-Wes-N-Qalified-Cmmen-n-Wmen's-Righs
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Marry Hindu boys for a happy life, VHP leader Sadhvi
Prachi’s advice to Muslim girls
April 06, 2023
MAYANK KUMAR
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Prachi on
Thursday asked Muslim girls to marry Hindu boys, claiming that they would be
able to lead a happy life, free from wearing black clothes or from talaq
(divorce) and halala.
Ms. Prachi, who reached the circuit house in Bareilly,
also added that if the DNA test of the people living in India was done, then
everyone’s ancestors would be found to be Lord Ram, Lord Krishna and Baba
Bholenath. Over the question of violence in Bihar and West Bengal on Ram
Navami, the VHP said that President’s rule should be imposed in both these
States.
“Mamata Banerjee is promoting Muslim appeasement;
President’s rule should be imposed,” said Ms. Prachi, who once announced a
reward of ₹50 lakh to anyone willing to behead Zakir Naik, an Islamic public
orator. The VHP leader in the past, had also asked Muslim women who faced
triple talaq, to join Hinduism.
“If women marry in Islam, they will definitely undergo
a divorce. This will be followed by the ‘horrible halala’, so kick the culture
which ruins lives and adopt Hinduism,” she said.
Source: TheHindu
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Propelled by female employment, Saudi jobless rate
hits historic milestone
DR. ABDEL AZIZ ALUWAISHEG
April 06, 2023
The unemployment rate of Saudi nationals dropped to 8
percent during the last quarter of 2022, a remarkable achievement not seen in
decades, bringing the country close to achieving the 7 percent target of Vision
2030.
Jobless figures had been stubbornly high for some
time, reaching double digits in 2003, exceeding 14 percent in 2016, and going
beyond that during the coronavirus pandemic.
Last year, for the first time since 2003, the rate
went back to single digits in the second quarter. In the fourth quarter it went
down to 8 percent, a level not seen since 1999.
A labor market survey released last week by Saudi
Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics, showed that the drop in the number
of people out of work had been propelled mostly by the increased employment of
Saudi women, a phenomenon most notable in the new projects associated with
Vision 2030.
By removing burdensome restrictions on female
employment, the country has moved closer to achieving one of the most important
goals of that vision.
The fall in the female unemployment rate has been
dramatic. It rose from 15.8 percent in 1999 to more than 28 percent over the
following years, before starting to dip gradually with the introduction of
Vision 2030 in 2016.
In the last quarter of 2022, it went back to 15.4
percent, about the same level as in 1999. With these dramatic changes, it is
clear that reversing female unemployment is one of the key success stories of
Vision 2030.
Joblessness in Saudi Arabia is paradoxical. Since
1999, the economy has been growing steadily and at times rapidly, but the
unemployment rate of nationals was also rising, an unusual occurrence as gross
domestic product growth and unemployment rates usually move in opposite
directions.
The number of jobs created every year exceeded the
number of new labor-market entrants of 200,0000 to 250,0000, but Saudi
nationals were not able to take advantage of that job growth for a variety
reasons.
By improving education and training quality and
removing undue barriers to employment, government policy appears to be working
in bringing Saudi nationals’ employment and GDP growth rates in sync.
It now looks likely that Saudi Arabia will reach the 7
percent unemployment target for Saudi nationals ahead of the schedule
anticipated in Vision 2030.
In 2021, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said when
the target was achieved, the government would shift focus to improving job
quality and workers’ earnings.
He pointed out that around 50 percent of the jobs
Saudis were employed in were “bad jobs.” While wages earned in these jobs
covered basic needs of food and shelter, workers could not save, grow their
wealth, improve the quality of their lives, or spend much on entertainment.
The government intended to raise the share of good
jobs to 80 percent or higher, enabling workers to improve their living
standards and invest more.
According to the labor market survey, just over 30
percent of Saudis in the labor market in the fourth quarter of 2022 were
university graduates, with approximately 3 percent having post-graduate
degrees.
These rates are comparable to those of industrialized
countries, as in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development region
for example, but Saudi tertiary education has not been able to cope with Vision
2030’s requirements, creating the need to send tens of thousands of Saudi
students abroad, a very expensive endeavor, making it imperative to improve
education and supplement it with appropriate training programs.
Improving education and training programs is key to
the government’s policy of both reducing joblessness and increasing the share
of good jobs, but so is adjusting labor market policies including easing
women’s access to those good jobs.
Research has shown that having more education,
knowledge, and skills increases the chance of finding employment, of improving
skills while on the job, and of realizing higher earnings over a lifetime.
Employment prospects depend largely on whether
individuals’ skills meet the requirements of the labor market. In a segmented
and managed labor market such as Saudi Arabia, those prospects also depend on
social and institutional factors.
What people know and what they can do with what they
know has a major impact on labor market outcomes.
A healthy labor market absorbs a range of skills at
different levels, and to varying degrees, and will minimize the mismatching of
skills, which happens when the skill level of the workers or their qualifications
are higher or lower than what is required for their job.
In an increasingly knowledge-based global economy,
people with high-level skills are in greater demand, while those with
lower-level skills are more likely to be at risk of being unemployed.
Besides high-level skills typically associated with
tertiary education, a well-skilled labor force also requires mid-level trade,
technical, and professional skills, often delivered through vocational
programs.
Research has shown that the skills more highly in
demand nowadays – particularly, information-processing skills – are learnable.
Thus, it is important that both formal and alternative schooling be tuned to
the evolving needs of the marketplace so that students of today are better
prepared for the jobs of tomorrow.
As growth in Saudi Arabia is largely driven by
government policy, it should not be difficult to anticipate what those needs
are going to be at a given time.
Career guidance at schools, colleges, and labor
offices can play an important role informing young people about current and
emerging opportunities and in the process facilitating better matches between
supply and demand.
Social and institutional impediments to employment are
more difficult to identify and tackle, but they are no less important. Surveys
on the root causes of unemployment among women, for example, have revealed that
access to transportation plays a key role in their labor market decisions,
making it important to accelerate public transport project implementation.
While legal restrictions on female employment are removed, social restrictions
will take a longer time.
The historical level of Saudi female unemployment
achieved in the last quarter (15.4 percent) is still high compared to that of
Saudi men (4.2 percent). It is also too high compared to the abundant number of
jobs created by the rapidly growing economy.
One key indicator of lingering social limits to female
employment is their labor force participation rate, which the labor market
survey put at 36 percent in the last quarter, nearly half the average of
industrialized countries. In 2022, participation rates for women averaged 66
percent in OECD countries.
Saudi Arabia is coming close to achieving its
unemployment rate target ahead of schedule, which will trigger shifting the
focus from this important quantitative goal to the more qualitative good job
priority.
Female unemployment has dropped dramatically from 28
percent to around 15 percent in the last quarter, and hopes are high that this
progress will continue. Equally important, but more difficult to change, is
their low participation rate, which needs both government and societal efforts.
Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the Gulf Cooperation
Council assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation, and
a columnist for Arab News. The views expressed in this piece are personal and
do not necessarily represent GCC views. Twitter: @abuhamad1
Source: Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2282466
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Saudi Women’s U-17 national team captain aims to
inspire Saudi girls
LAMA ALHAMAWI
April 01, 2023
RIYADH: Majd Alotaibi is dreaming big.
The captain of the U-17 Saudi Women’s National
Football Team — established in February —hopes to inspire other girls across
the Kingdom and dreams of winning the FIFA World Cup with the Green
Falcons.
The U-17 team, led by Croatian coach Stella Gutal,
consists of 28 players and is captained by Alotaibi, who is one of the youngest
players in the Saudi women’s First Division, in which she represents Al-Yamamah
FC.
Alotaibi started playing football in 2013, aged six,
in a team coached by her father, who was a professional football player
himself.
“My dad used to be a player so I felt like football
was in my blood,” Alotaibi told Arab News. “It’s been a big part of my life
since I was young.” Her family and friends “and everyone cheering me on” are
her main motivation, she added. And she hopes to be a source of motivation for
others too. “Being one of the youngest players in the (league and national
team) means that I have to inspire younger girls,” she added.
She is quick to credit her teammates at the Saudi
national team, saying: “I would like to thank my teammates first of all,
because they helped make it easier for me; because I’m one of the youngest,
they take care of me.”
Alotaibi stressed that discipline and dedication are
crucial for anyone hoping to become a professional.
“If you love the game and you want to do amazing
things and achieve a lot, you need to be 100 percent in what you’re doing,” she
explained. “Always being there on time, always the first person on the field,
last person off the field. If you have passion for something, you’re going to
achieve a lot of great things.”
On March 24, Saudi Arabia’s Women’s National Team
entered the FIFA world rankings after nine international matches over the
previous year.
“Currently the Saudi national team is ranked 171 out
of 188 national teams. That just proves how hard we have been working in such a
short time so, inshallah, in the future you will see how far we come,” Alotaibi
said.
After a recent victory in an international friendly
match, the team gathered for official pictures, and Alotaibi mimicked
Manchester City star ErlingHaaland’s ‘yoga meditation’ goal celebration.
“I know it’s Haaland’s move, but I was happy and
wanted to celebrate and that was the first thing that came to mind,” she said.
“Now it’s become a thing.”
She has another signature pose where she brings her
hands together to create the letter “M.”
“It’s M for Majd,” she said. “Inshallah, for upcoming
matches when I score, I will do it.”
For now, Alotaibi is focusing on her career with
Al-Yamamah and the Saudi national team, but would she consider a move in the
future?
“What’s next for me is I want to become the best
player in the league,” she said. “Regarding (other) clubs… to be continued.”
Alotaibi is still very young and aims to continue
pushing herself to new limits while inspiring other young girls to pursue their
passions and achieve their goals.
Her own ambitions remain very lofty. She told Arab
News that in 10 years, with the help of her teammates, she hopes to win the
World Cup.
“It’s not something I want to accomplish by myself,
it’s something I want to accomplish with the Saudi national team. I want to win
the World Cup, Women’s World Cup,” the young star said.
Source: Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2279561/sport
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Women own 40% of 1.3 million Saudi commercial
registers
April 07, 2023
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Commerce has
issued a total of 1.3 million commercial registers, of which 40 percent are
owned by women.
Around 51 percent of registers are owned by youth,
with a growth rate of 2 percent during the first quarter of this year, compared
to the same period in 2022, according to the quarterly bulletin, issued by the
ministry, on the performance of the business sector and its developments in the
Kingdom.
Riyadh topped in the number of commercial registers
with 391,000, and it was followed by Makkah with 314,000 registers and, then
the Eastern Province with 201,000. It was followed by Asir (80,000), Madinah
(77,000), Al-Qassim (69,000) and Jazan (54,000) while Tabuk came with 33,000,
Hail (28,000), Najran (24,000), Al-Jouf (20,000), the Northern Borders region
(15,000), and Al-Baha (13,000), the report pointed out.
Source: Saudi Gazette
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/631394
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Iran finds new ways to crack down on women not wearing
hijab
6 April 2023
In the small Iranian city of Shandiz, near the
religious city of Mashhad, known as a stronghold for principlists, a man
entered a shop saw two women not wearing the hijab. Angered by the sight of the
women not abiding by the Islamic dress code, the man threw yoghurt at them, leaving
them in shock.
Hours later, it was revealed that the attacker was a
religious eulogist.
The incident, which took place on 31 March, is the
latest in a series of developments that have once again raised tensions in Iran
regarding the issue of the mandatory hijab, as many young women continue to
defy the country's Islamic law.
Many Iranians criticised the attack on social media,
calling it a significant "danger" that needs to be addressed.
Ehsan Alikhani, a popular television host, made a
reference to the danger of throwing acid, and said that people should be
grateful that only yoghurt was used in this instance. He added that if such
actions are not decisively dealt with, they could create chaos in the country.
Alikhani emphasised that the incident is the
"most minor result" of the "violence" that is deeply rooted
in the statements of some hardliners against young women who choose not to wear
hijabs.
Reacting to the attack, renowned legal scholar Mohsen
Borhani wrote on Twitter that any action taken against these women beyond
verbal remarks is illegal and a criminal offence, adding that in such
situations, they "have the right to legitimate defence" according to
the law.
Surprisingly, even some conservatives have spoken out
against the attack.
The leader of Friday prayers in Ardebil city, Hassan
Ameli, said that this "wrong move" should not be associated with
religion and that "religion does not tell you to do this".
However, hardline newspaper Kayhan, which is
considered to be the mouthpiece of conservatives and the Islamic Republic
establishment, on Tuesday wrote that what is "worse than the man who threw
yoghurt was the action of the two women who insulted the law, religious beliefs
and moral foundations of society by not wearing the hijab."
Meanwhile, the judiciary has issued an arrest warrant
for the attacker and the two women for flouting the hijab law.
'What are you afraid of?'
In recent weeks, principlists in Iran have been
ramping up their rhetoric against women who choose not to wear hijab.
The issue has become increasingly contentious since
September, when a 22-year-old woman died in the custody of the morality police
after she was arrested for not "properly" wearing the hijab.
Mahsa'sAmini's death led to months-long widespread protests, in which hundreds
were killed.
As a result, deciding not to wear the hijab has become
a symbol of resistance and defiance against the Islamic Republic's dress code.
Many young women are now walking in the streets and
public places without wearing headscarves, a sight that has become more common
as the weather becomes warmer. With the arrival of spring, a large number of
women are not wearing the hijab, which has made principlists increasingly
worried.
Supporters of principlists and ultra-conservatives
have been holding gatherings in front of government buildings and urging the
establishment to deal with the situation.
On Sunday, a group of ultra-conservatives stood in
front of the governor of Mazandaran, a province in northern Iran, and told him:
"If you cannot do something, we will do it. All the restaurants in the
city are open and all the [girls] are [almost] naked."
Meanwhile, in a speech in Qom, broadcast by state TV,
Naser Rafiee Mohammadi, a principlist cleric, addressed the establishment,
saying: "Why have you easily gone along with this issue? What are you
afraid of?"
No service to women
Under principlist President Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian
government has recently shown its resolve to maintain the country's strict
dress code for women.
In response to the recent wave of women defying the
hijab laws, the government issued a statement declaring that it will neither
retreat nor compromise on the issue.
To indirectly pressure women into compliance with the
dress code, the government has been taking action against businesses that allow
women to enter without a headscarf.
In recent weeks, many stores, shopping malls, hotels
and restaurants have been closed down by the government and the establishment,
with their owners saying they were informed it was because they had allowed
women without hijab on their premises.
"It is not legal for the government or the judiciary
to blame the manager over a woman's lack of hijab and shut the place
down," a lawyer, who did not want her name to be revealed, told Middle
East Eye.
Recent reports have emerged of government officials
denying women the right to board flights in some airports across the country.
In a video circulating on social media, officials at
Shiraz airport in Iran's southwest can be seen informing women that they will
not be allowed to board their flights unless they comply with the hijab laws.
The officials were heard saying that they will not
"provide service" to women who do not wear a headscarf, and as a
result, will not issue boarding passes.
The controversial plan
Denying service at airports is part of a series of
punishments laid down in a plan prepared by the principlist-dominated
parliament to deal with women who do not abide by the hijab law.
The plan specified seven areas where violations would
be registered as follows: inside cars; indoor locations such as restaurants,
government offices and organisations; educational centres; universities;
airports and terminals; the street, and online.
Lawbreakers would be handed fines ranging between five
million ($118) and 30 billion rials ($720,000). Furthermore, women who do not
comply with warnings will have their phone lines and internet blocked.
Other punishments outlined in the plan include the
revocation of driver's licences and passports.
On Monday, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry
of Science, Research and Technology warned on the first day of the reopening of
schools and university that students who do not observe the hijab will be
denied "educational services".
The plan has been met with a backlash on social
networks, with many warning of the repercussion of such moves.
A sociologist and women's rights activist, who spoke
to MEE on condition of anonymity, warned that any extreme or harsh actions by
the government and the establishment are likely to lead to an equally harsh
response.
"The women in Iranian society aren’t the women
the Islamic Republic wants," she said.
"The real face of women in society can be seen in
the streets. These women have been present for years and their presence has
been ignored by the Islamic Republic."
The sociologist said the mandatory hijab law has had
significant effects on Iranian society, whereby many Iranians choose to leave
the country due to the strict dress code, which makes other places seem like
"paradise" in comparison.
Despite Iran's rich cultural heritage, the sociologist
noted that the freedom to choose whether or not to wear hijab has made Muslim
countries like Turkey a desirable destination for some Iranian women seeking
greater personal freedom.
Making women angrier
While parliament's plan has faced criticism, it seems
like the establishment is willing to enforce it to a large extent even without
lawmakers passing it.
Principlist MP Hossein Jalali said in late March that
an agreement had been reached between the judiciary, the police, the interior
ministry, the National Security Council, and parliament to implement the plan
and enforce the Islamic dress code.
Jalali said under the new strategy, physical
punishment will not be allowed and surveillance cameras will monitor women in
public spaces, and those who break the hijab rule will be tracked down and
punished afterward.
In a statement indicating at least a partial
implementation of the parliamentary bill, Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni
Ejei, announced on Monday that the police will use "smart systems" to
identify women without hijab and warn them via SMS. If individuals do not
comply with the warnings, they will be summoned to court, he said.
Most notably, in comments on the hijab issue, Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday said: "The enemy has entered this
issue with a plan, we must also enter it with a plan," adding "[wrong
reactions] should not be done".
A reformist political commentator, who wished to
remain anonymous, told MEE that he believed Tehran has come to a decision
regarding the implementation of the recent bill.
According to the commentator, parliament would not
pass it to avoid attracting negative reactions and angering women, and instead,
the government would enforce it to a significant degree.
"In light of recent remarks made by Khamenei, it
appears that the establishment will not utilise the morality police to get
physically involved as they have in the past, but instead, they will rely on
smart cameras placed around the city to pressure women to comply with the dress
code," he said.
"Khamenei's new statement suggested that the
government and the establishment have no intention of supporting physical
interventions, such as the yoghurt incident.
"However, the plan is to rely on surveillance
which is even more dangerous, potentially leading Iran to resemble China, where
everyone is officially under surveillance."
The commentator, however, said he does not believe the
establishment would succeed.
"The new Iran is completely different to
pre-September Iran. It is enough for the officials to go out and realise this.
Such plans would only make women angrier and lead them to defy them more,"
he said.
Source:MiddleEastEye
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-hijab-women-not-wearing-new-ways-cracking-down
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