HRW:

(Beirut) – Iranian authorities should drop charges and stop prosecuting women for peacefully protesting Iran’s compulsory dress code (hijab) laws, Human Rights Watch said today. At least three women who peacefully protested the hijab law have been arrested since the end of January 2018.
 
Iranian officials arrested Nargess Hosseini on January 29 as she took off her headscarf to protest Iran’s compulsory hijab while standing on top of an electric utility box on a street in Tehran. They arrested Azam Jangravi on February 14 and Shaparak Shajarizadeh on February 21 in similar circumstances. Sources told Human Rights Watch that Hosseini and Jangravi were released on bail, but Shajarizadeh remains in detention.
 
“For decades Iranian authorities have imposed a compulsory dress code on women violating their basic freedom to express themselves and restricting access to economic and social opportunities for anyone who refuses,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Now when women are peacefully protesting a discriminatory dress code, authorities are adding to their misdeeds by arresting them.”
 
The most recent wave of protests against compulsory hijab began on December 27, 2017, when photos circulated on social media of a woman who had taken off and held aloft her headscarf on Enghelab (Revolution) Street in Tehran. Nasrine Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights lawyer, wrote on her Facebook page on January 21 that authorities had arrested the woman on December 27. 
Since then, dozens of “Girls of Revolution Street” have taken their headscarves off while standing on electric utility boxes across the country. On January 29, Hosseini, 32, stood on the same utility box while waving her headscarf in protest. Authorities immediately arrested her and transferred her to Qarchak prison in Tehran.
 
Sotoudeh, who is representing Hosseini, said she faces charges of “openly committing a sinful act,” “violating public prudency,” and “encouraging immorality or prostitution.” Under Article 639 of Iran’s penal code, encouraging immorality or prostitution can carry a sentence of between 1 to 10 years in prison. On February 17, authorities released Hosseini on bail. Her trial is scheduled for February 24.

 

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