DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Iran's parliament on Wednesday approved a bill to impose heavier penalties on women who refuse to wear the mandatory Islamic headscarf in public and those who support them.

The move came just days after the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by the morality police for violating the country's dress code. Her death in custody ignited months of protests in which many called for the overthrow of Iran's theocracy.

The bill also extends punishments to business owners who serve women not wearing the mandatory headscarf, known as hijab, and activists who organize against it. Violators could face up to 10 years in prison if the offense occurs in an organized way.


The bill, which was approved by 152 lawmakers in Iran's 290-seat parliament, requires ratification by the Guardian Council, a clerical body that serves as constitutional watchdog. It would take effect for a preliminary period of three years.

The demonstrations sparked by Amini's death on Sept. 16, 2022, faded early this year following a heavy crackdown on dissent in which more than 500 protesters were killed and over 22,000 detained.

But many women continued to flaunt the rules on wearing hijab, prompting a new campaign to enforce them over the summer. Iran's clerical rulers view the hijab law as a key pillar of the Islamic Republic and blamed the protests on Western nations, without providing evidence.

The protesters said they were motivated by anger over the dress code as well as what they see as the corruption and poor governance of the country's ruling clerics.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, a gunman shot a cleric to death in the northern Iranian town of Sejas. Police detained the assailant, and authorities said the motive was a personal dispute, according to the semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies.

Several clerics were attacked at the height of the protests. An armed guard at a bank shot and killed a senior Shiite cleric in April.

Iran’s parliament approves ‘hijab bill’; harsh punishments for violations

The bill defines an array of punishments for violators of a mandatory dress code, including fines and prison terms.

The legislation defines new frameworks for how Iranians, especially women, need to conform to the country’s mandatory dress code that has been in place since shortly after the 1979 revolution 
[Vahid Salemi/AP Photo]

By Maziar Motamedi
Published On 20 Sep 2023

Tehran, Iran – Iran’s parliament has passed a new “hijab and chastity” bill that lays out punishment for people, especially women, who violate the country’s mandatory dress code rules.

On Wednesday, lawmakers approved the three-year duration of the legislation on a trial basis, with 152 voting in favour, 34 against, and seven abstaining.

The Guardian Council, a powerful oversight body consisting of clerics and legal experts, would need to approve the bill before it can be implemented.

The implementation of the legislation, which had been in the works for months, was not put to a parliament vote. It was approved last month by a special committee consisting of 10 lawmakers.

At the time, lawmakers invoked an article of the constitution that permits the formation of a committee to approve legislation for “experimental” implementation. Wednesday’s vote in parliament only decided the duration.

The legislation defines new frameworks for how Iranians, especially women, need to conform to the country’s mandatory dress code that has been in place since shortly after the 1979 revolution.

For women, unacceptable covering has been defined as “revealing or tight clothing, or clothing that shows parts of the body lower than the neck or above the ankles or above the forearms”, according to the latest version of the legislation released in local media.

For men, it has been defined as “revealing clothing that shows parts of the body lower than the chest or above the ankles, or shoulders”.

It also sets new punishments for people who are found to be in violation of the rules.

Totalling more than 70 articles, the bill defines an array of financial penalties for hijab violations, which could be ramped up to prison terms if found to be done in an organised manner and in contact with “foreign governments, networks, media, groups or organisations” or people affiliated with them.

Businesses and business owners will also be exposed to punishments, including hefty fines, bans on leaving the country, or prison terms if they are found to be propagating “nudity, lack of chastity or bad covering” in any way.



The bill also details new duties for a host of government, law enforcement and military organisations to make sure they and their staff fully comply with the mandatory hijab rules and do their utmost to prevent instances of violation or identify them.

Last month, a group of United Nations experts said the hijab bill “could be described as a form of gender apartheid”.

“The draft law imposes severe punishments on women and girls for noncompliance which may lead to its violent enforcement,” the experts said.

“The bill also violates fundamental rights, including the right to take part in cultural life, the prohibition of gender discrimination, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to peaceful protest, and the right to access social, educational, and health services, and freedom of movement.”

The bill was passed just days after the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman from the northwestern province of Kurdistan who died in police custody in the capital Tehran.

Her death, after her arrest by morality police for alleged noncompliance with the mandatory dress code, sparked nationwide protests that lasted for months and left hundreds killed.

After largely vanishing from the streets of Tehran and other cities during the protests, morality police vans officially returned last month.

In recent months, authorities have taken a series of steps to counter increased instances of women ditching their hijabs online and in public.

These have included using smart cameras, fining owners of vehicles and then impounding the cars for repeated offences, forming court cases against celebrities, and shutting down businesses for offering services to women who are deemed to be violating mandatory dress codes.