By MARCO GIANNANGELI – SUNDAY EXPRESS DIPLOMATIC EDITOR
19:12, Mon, Sep 11, 2023
A wave of fresh protests will erupt across Iran next weekend as people mark the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, Iranians said last night.
The 22-year-old student’s death while in custody following her arrest for not properly wearing a headscarf prompted demonstrations in every Iranian city which have still not fully abated.
Last night demonstrators told how even their own arrests and torture in prison have not dissuaded them for continuing to protest against the regime’s draconian laws.
Experts had predicted that the extent of national discontent over Amini’s death – which reflected a range of issues beyond the wearing of headscarves to Iran’s tumbling economy and mass unemployment – was beginning to reveal terminal fault lines which would spell the end of the regime.
But a recent deal by US President Biden to pay the regime billions of dollars in return for hostages has, they feared, killed these hopes for now.
Iran’s ‘gender apartheid’ bill could jail women for 10 years for not wearing hijab
Shops that serve unveiled women could be shut under draft law UN human rights body says suppresses women into ‘total submission’
Women in Iran face up to 10 years in prison if they continue to defy the country’s mandatory hijab law, under harsher laws awaiting approval by authorities. Even businesses that serve women without a hijab face being shut down.
The stricter dress code, which amounts to “gender apartheid”, UN xperts said, comes one year after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been detained for allegedly wearing the Islamic headscarf incorrectly. Her death, after allegedly being beaten by police, led to the largest wave of popular nrest for years in Iran.
The length of prison sentences contained in the draft law was comparable to those for serious offences such as murder and drug trafficking, said an Iranian human rights lawyer, Hossein Raeesi. “That’s ridiculous to even think about.”
The hijab and chastity bill details punishments including more than 60 lashes, heavy fines and prison terms. It also warns businesses of closure and other serious consequences if found to be providing services to women with “improper dress code”.
Elnaz*, an Iranian journalist, said: “With the new law, the government is telling us women that we will go to prison for up to 10 years if we don’t wear a hijab. What next? Adeath penalty for defying the new hijab law?”