ARCHIVE – A picture provided by the Office of the Iranian Religious Leader shows Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. Photo: Iranian Supreme Leader’s Office/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
“Poorly or loosely fitting headscarves are not right. But it doesn’t mean that we should look at them contrary to religion and revolution,” Iran’s religious leader was quoted as saying by the Irna news agency on Wednesday. “We all have weaknesses that we need to fix, and anything we can fix gets better.” After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, strict Islamic clothing regulations were introduced in Iran, which are also controlled.
Iran’s political leadership has been under enormous pressure since the nationwide protests broke out in mid-September. Triggered by the death of the Iranian Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody, Tehran plunged into the worst political crisis in decades. The 22-year-old was arrested more than three months ago for violating Iran’s Islamic dress code.
The protests that followed, which were also directed against the Islamic system of rule, were violently suppressed. In the meantime, more and more women in Iran’s metropolises can be seen in public without a headscarf. While the so-called vice police, who also arrested Amini, have almost completely disappeared from the streets, the compulsory wearing of headscarves is said to be followed up by other methods, such as video surveillance. (SDA)