The Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization today denounced the Iranian bill that would increase the sentences of women who do not wear the Islamic veil, considering that it will lead to "resistance" against the authorities.
Instead of accepting the civic movement demanding reforms, the Iranian regime is responding autocratically by silencing women with "more repressive dress laws", accuses HRW researcher for Iran, Nahid Naghshbandi, in a statement.
"This law will provoke strong resistance and defiance from women" in Iran and abroad, she added.
The law punishes failure to wear the veil with up to five years in prison.
The legislation that will be enacted by the President of Iran was approved by the Iranian Parliament in 2023 and ratified last September by the Guardian Council, the body that proposes, approves or vetoes the dress code law.
The current head of state, Masud Pezeshkian, had promised during the election campaign that he would relax policies regarding Islamic dress.
The new law, with 71 articles, requires the wearing of the veil, criminalizing acts of civil disobedience adopted by many women in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, a victim of the police in 2022 after being arrested for not wearing the mandatory attire.
The death of the young Iranian woman of Kurdish origin provoked strong protests and gave rise to the Women, Life and Freedom movement.
According to HRW, a non-governmental organization based in the United States, the law that will tighten government control over women's lives also provides for, in addition to fines and prison sentences, the closure of commercial establishments or institutions of Iranian women who "do not respect" the new order.
Other measures include salary withholding and travel bans.
One of the articles states that "cases of public nudity or 'semi-nudity'" or "wearing clothing considered socially equivalent to nudity" are punishable by 10 years in prison, but does not specify the prohibited clothing.
Since 2022, Iranian authorities have been trying to reinstate the use of the Islamic veil with punishments such as the seizure of vehicles and with the increased presence of the customs police, whose job it is to arrest women who do not wear the attire imposed by the regime.
According to HRW, many Iranian women do not wear the veil as a gesture of disobedience and an affront to the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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