Women in Iran can face severe punishment including the death penalty or 15 years in prison, if they defy the new compulsory morality laws, due to come into effect this week. This legislation that promotes a “culture of chastity and hijab” was passed by the Iranian authorities earlier this month. It imposes severe penalties accused of “promoting nudity, indecency, unveiling or improper dressing”.
Offenders face fines of up to £12,500, flogging and prison sentences ranging from five to 15 years for repeat offenders.
According to The Guardian, based on Article Iran’s new morality law stipulates, that individuals accused of promoting or propagating indecency, unveiling, or “bad dressing” for foreign entities – such as international media outlets or civil society organisations – could face up to 10 years in prison and fines amounting to £12,500. This clause targets those seen as collaborating with external groups to challenge the regime’s stance on morality and dress codes, intensifying the already strict measures against dissent and defiance of the hijab mandate.
Under Article 296 of Iran’s Islamic penal code, individuals whose actions are deemed to constitute “corruption on Earth” could be sentenced to death.
Amnesty International has condemned Iran's new morality laws, which effectively allow women and girls who share videos of themselves unveiled with foreign media or engage in peaceful protest maybe sentenced to death.
Additionally, Article 60 of the new law offers protection and even potential immunity for individuals who impose compulsory veiling on women as part of their "religious duty." This provision discourages intervention by criminalising those who attempt to prevent the harassment or arrest of women defying the dress code, exposing them to potential imprisonment or fines, reported The Guardian.
Any businesses or commercial establishments, taxi drivers, media and broadcasters, and educational institutions will also be subjected to punishments and penalties if they fail to report defaulting women and men, or allow the promotion of “nudity” and “improper dressing”, the report said.
Iranian journalists, activists, clerics and human rights lawyers have expressed outrage over the law, which they say will legitimise the increasing restrictions on women in the country.
The law came into place two years after nationwide protests rocked the country after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, for not wearing her hijab correctly.
Over the past two years, Iranian women have been publicly defying the strict dress code.
Last month, videos of a young Iranian student stripping to her underwear, reportedly in protest at the strict dress code, went viral across social media. She was later taken to an undisclosed psychiatric hospital.