NCRI Women’s Committee calls for condemnation of the repressive actions and measures against women
Intimidating statements of the Judiciary and various ministries against women and depriving them of social rights
Following the warning by Ebrahim Raisi and the Judiciary, today (Monday, April 3), simultaneous with the end of the Nowruz holidays, the ministries of Science, Education, and Health of the regime, in spate announcements, warned students who do not observe hijab. The Ministry of Education announced: “We will not provide services to students who do not follow the rules of covering!” (Aftab website – April 3)
The Ministry of Science announced: “Universities and higher education centers under the supervision of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology will be excused from providing educational, welfare, etc., services to the few students who do not comply with the rules and regulations of the universities in this regard.” (ISNA – April 3).
Abbas Shiraojan, Vice President of the University of Medical Sciences, said, “Medical sciences universities will be excused from providing services to the few students who do not have the Islamic hijab.” (Jamaran website – April 3).
The state head of Azad University, Iran’s largest university complex, announced: “Relevant institutions are obliged to prevent students from coming to the university with inappropriate clothing.” (Entekhab website April 3).
Ebrahim Raisi said on April 1: “Legal obligation obliges everyone to adhere to the law, if for any reason one does not believe in hijab, but adherence to the law makes a society run by the rule of law.” (News Network – April 1)
Mullah Ejei, head of the Judiciary, had also warned that “removing the hijab is an act of enmity to the system and its values, and people who commit this irregularity will be punished” and “the officers are obliged to deal with obvious crimes and any kind of irregularity in public that is against the law and the Sharia. They must refer the cases to the competent judicial authorities for handling it. The judicial authorities should also be diligent in handling such cases… In case of identifying and arresting these perpetrators, the judicial branch deals with this issue in a special and out-of-time manner, and all those who are in any way involved and accomplices in these issues, will be prosecuted decisively without any tolerance.” (Fars News Agency – April 1)
Before that, the mullahs’ Ministry of Interior announced in a statement: “Hijab… will always be one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” The statement added: “While reemphasizing the need to observe the hijab in all public places and roads, and declaring support for all those enjoining virtue and prohibiting vice across the country, the respected judicial system, bailiffs and other relevant institutions will take action against the few violators of the norms.” (Fars News Agency – March 31)
Zohreh Lajevardi, a member of the regime’s parliament and daughter of Lajevardi, the butcher of Evin, warned that “the cultural commission of the parliament will deal with those responsible who do not fulfill their duty regarding the hijab.” (Fars News Agency – April 1)
During this week’s Friday prayers, Khamenei’s representatives, in a coordinated theatrical chorus, told the government officials, “If you are incapable of fighting against lack of hijab, we will take action.” (Khabaronline website- April 1) They called on Basij members and other regime mercenaries to take action to suppress women.
This week, many shops, tourist centers, restaurants, cafes, and even pharmacies and doctors’ offices in different cities of the country, including Qom, Shiraz, Khaf, Noor, Babolsar, Khorramabad, Miyaneh, Varzaneh, Dezful and… were sealed and closed.
Only in Kashan 40 trade and tourism units were sealed, and women are prevented from entering many centers under the pretext of hijab. The clip of a member of the Basij attacking a mother and daughter in a dairy shop in Torqabeh (Khorasan province) caused a wave of disgust and condemnation.
The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, while condemning the clerical regime’s misogynist policies, warns against the intensification of repressive measures against women and calls on all international organizations defending women’s rights and human rights to take practical and effective measures against the oppression of women in Iran and discrimination against them.
National Council of Resistance of Iran – Women’s Committee
April 3, 2023
