Iran Pauses New Stricter Hijab Law Before Implementation

Women wearing headscarves walk near Tajrish Square in Tehran, Iran, on July 12, 2022. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images

Iran’s government has paused plans to implement a controversial new law that would have seen women in the country face up to 15 years in prison if they did not wear a head-covering hijab.

The compulsory legislation was first approved by the country’s parliament in September 2023.

It will not be sent to the government as planned this week, said Shahram Dabiri, the vice president in charge of parliamentary affairs.

“According to the discussions held, it was decided that this law will not be referred to the government by the parliament for now,” Dabiri said in an interview with the newspaper Ham Mihan Daily on Monday.

The decision not to enact the legislation—at least temporarily—came from top executive, legislative, and judiciary bodies, Dabiri added.

At the moment, it is “not feasible to implement this bill,” Dabiri said, without providing further details.

The law in question drastically increases financial and social penalties for individuals who fail to adhere to the government’s strict dress code, which includes the requirement for women to wear a hijab, chador, or headscarf.

It envisages fines of $800 for first-time offenders and $1,500 for second-time offenders, followed by prison terms of up to 15 years for individuals who commit offenses a third time.

The legislation would also have seen business owners face fines and the possibility of closures if they were to serve women and girls who did not wear a hijab. Travel bans also would have been enacted for offenders.

Additionally, the measure would have encouraged business owners, taxi drivers, and foreign nationals, including the millions of Afghans living in Iran, to report women and girls who did not wear the hijab to the government.

Iran’s President Says Legislation Is ‘Very Ambiguous’

It would have also granted police access to private surveillance footage and footage recorded by security forces, the Defense Ministry, and the country’s civilian nuclear agency.

The law, if enacted, would have remained in place for a trial period of three years, according to Human Rights Watch.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian—who would have been required by law to endorse the legislation within five days had the government passed it—has voiced concern over the measure.

“In my opinion, the hijab law, which I have to implement, is very ambiguous. We should not do anything to disturb the harmony and empathy of the society. We have to talk and interact about this issue,” Pezeshkian wrote in a Dec. 2 statement on social media platform X, according to a translation.

Amnesty International, among other human rights organizations, has also criticized the legislation.

Its deputy Middle East and North Africa director, Diana Eltahawy, said in a Dec. 11 statement that Iranian authorities are “seeking to entrench the already suffocating system of repression against women and girls while making their daily lives even more intolerable.”

Eltahawy urged the international community to “pursue legal pathways to hold Iranian officials accountable for committing widespread and systematic human rights violations against women and girls through the implementation of compulsory veiling.”

Many believe that the bill, if enforced, could have reignited protests similar to those that rocked Iran in mid-September 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who died while in the custody of Iranian authorities.

Amini, 22, was arrested due to what police said was her “inappropriate attire.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.