Iran sentences woman to 24 months for removing hijab

Women in Iran continue to face arrest and incarceration  for fighting the law that forces them to wear the hijab.

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

A Tehran prosecutor says a woman who removed her obligatory Islamic headscarf in public in late December has been sentenced to 24 months in prison.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency on Wednesday quoted prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying the unidentified woman took off her headscarf in Tehran’s Enghelab Street to “encourage corruption through the removal of the hijab in public.”

In February, police detained 29 women who removed their headscarves as part of an anti-hijab campaign known as “White Wednesdays.”

These women appear to be following the lead of a 31-year-old protester identified as Vida Movahed, who took off her headscarf in the street in late December as part of widespread protests in the country. She was detained for a few weeks and then released.

The police say the campaign, advocated by Farsi-language satellite TV networks based abroad, purportedly encourages women participants to take their headscarves off on Wednesdays.

Women showing their hair in public in Iran are usually sentenced to far shorter terms of two months or less, and fined $25.

The Islamic dress code, in place since the 1979 revolution, requires any female above 13 years of age to wear the obligatory hijab and cover head to toe, in addition to banning figure-hugging dress.