Seynab Kasemi is arrested because she ostentatiously threw her headscarf to the ground during a speech in Tehran. Meanwhile, Iran’s parliament is introducing a headscarf law with draconian penalties.
An engineer in Iran has reportedly been arrested following a protest against mandatory headscarves. As the Norway-based human rights organization Hengaw reported, Seynab Kasemi was taken away from her home in the capital Tehran by security forces a few days ago. The judiciary had previously sentenced the woman to 74 lashes on probation. The US-based organization Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) also reported on the arrest.
Kasemi attracted a lot of attention in February for demonstratively throwing her headscarf to the ground during a speech during an event. Video footage of the action was widely shared on the Internet. The woman had protested against an engineering association’s decision not to allow her to run for board elections because of an ill-fitting headscarf.
Since the death of the Iranian Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody a year ago, many women in the country’s major cities have ignored the obligation to wear a headscarf in protest against the Islamic system of rule. Amini was arrested because she was said to have violated the prevailing dress code. Her death triggered the worst protests in decades in Iran in autumn 2022.
In response, members of parliament introduced a new headscarf law just this week. According to the draft law, draconian penalties will apply in the future for violations of the Islamic dress code. In extreme cases, up to 15 years in prison and the equivalent of more than 5,000 euros can be imposed.
Source: Stern
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