Iran: Hijab Law Under Review, Says Attorney General. State Body Reports 200 Deaths In Protests

The protests were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police after being arrested for allegedly breaching the country's strict dress code for women

The demonstrations began after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, died in custody ( Image Source :AFP )

New Delhi: Iran's attorney general on Saturday said that the parliament and the judiciary are reviewing the decades-old hijab law which sparked the 3-month-long protests in the country. The demonstration, according to the United Nations, is believed to have claimed more than 300 lives so far.

The protests, which started in September this year, across the country were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police after being arrested for allegedly breaching the country's strict dress code for women.

The furious Iranian protesters from all layers of society burned their head coverings, shouted anti-government slogans and tossed turbans off Muslim clerics' heads to demonstrate their defiance, which is now seen as the biggest challenge to Iran's leaders since the 1979 revolution. 

Iran's attorney general Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said, "Both parliament and the judiciary are working (on the issue)" of whether the law needs any changes, as quoted by news agency AFP. 

ISNA news agency reported that he did not specify what could be modified in the law by the two bodies, which are largely in the hands of conservatives.

The review team met on Wednesday with parliament's cultural commission "and will see the results in a week or two", the attorney general said.

In the meantime, a top state security organisation said that 200 individuals, including security forces personnel, had died in the unrest, a figure much lower than that reported by the world body and rights organisations, as per news agency Reuters.

The authorities have blamed the revolt on foreign enemies, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in a speech to parliamentarians, “Iran has the most progressive constitution in the world” because it marries “ideals with democracy,” quoting an unidentified African lawyer he said he met several years ago, Reuters reported.

“The constitution guarantees the (existence) of the Islamic system,” he said, adding that it also “guarantees fundamental rights and legitimate freedoms.”

The judiciary's Mizan news agency quoted the interior ministry's state security council as saying 200 people lost their lives in the recent "riots," as reported by Reuters.

Earlier, Amirali Hajizadeh, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander said on Monday that 300 people, including security force members, had been killed in the recent unrest.

Javaid Rehman, a U.N.-appointed independent expert on Iran, said on Tuesday that more than 300 people had been killed in the protests, including more than 40 children, reported Reuters.

Rights group HRANA said that as of Friday 469 protesters had been killed, including 64 minors. It said 61 government security forces had also been killed.

As many as 18,210 protesters are believed to have been arrested.

A prominent Baluch Sunni Muslim cleric, Molavi Abdolhamid, has called for an end to the repression of protests through arrests and killings, and a referendum on changing Iran's government system.

"The people's protest has shown that the policies of the last 43 years have reached a dead end," he said in late November.

(Inputs from agencies)