Iran Mulls Cash Fines For Hijab Violations Amidst Rising Dissent

Iranian government bodies and affiliated institutions have collectively endorsed the use of cash fines as a means to enforce compulsory hijab, a lawmaker has revealed.

Amir-Hossein Bankipour, a member of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution and recently re-elected lawmaker, disclosed in an interview aired on the Esfahan channel of state-run television (IRIB) Saturday that the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, Supreme National Security Council, judiciary, parliament, Guardian Council, and the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi, among others, jointly made the decision to implement cash fines.

According to Bankipour, the decision came about as a result of discussions on avoiding direct confrontations between the police and the public over hijab enforcement, as well as the potential burden on the judiciary from prosecuting numerous cases related to hijab violations.

Hardliners dominating the government and many clerics have been sounding the alarm at more signs of defiance by ordinary people to rigid religious restrictions. In addition to hijab, many Iranians publicly celebrated Norouz in the past week, by dancing and eating in public, while the New Year coincided with the Ramadan fasting month.

The hardliner lawmaker claimed that cash fines were only to be levied on women who appear in public in “very inappropriate and repulsive attire” and claimed that the public, including women who do not fully abide by hijab rules, are opposed to these women’s perceived indecency.

“There was a lot of discussion, and the best solution [that was suggested] was a deterrent fine … We decided to impose a deterrent fine for ringleaders of [moral] corruption,” he added.

Previously, lawmaker Mojtaba Karbasi had announced that first-time offenders would face a fine of 30 million rials (approximately $50), which would be deducted directly from their bank accounts without requiring their consent. Repeat offenders would face a fine of 240 million rials (around $400).

Authorities are currently utilizing footage from traffic and security cameras to identify hijab offenders, resulting in fines for tens of thousands of individuals caught "unveiling" in various public settings.

The proposed measure against hijab offenders is an amendment to a controversial bill, generally referred to as the “Hijab and chastity bill”, that the parliament approved in June 2023.

The constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, however, rejected the bill in October and sent it back to parliament for amendment and removal of verbal ambiguities.

Experts said at the time, that rejection of the bill was mainly for formal issues and had nothing to do with people’s objection to its provisions.

Hardliners have been looking for ways to strengthen the enforcement of hijab after their ‘morality police’ tactic of arresting women for “improper hijab” backfired with the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, triggering nationwide Woman, Life, Freedom protests that lasted for months and shook the Iranian regime to its core. More than 550 civilians were killed by security forces and around 22,000 arrested.

The morality police have largely disappeared from the streets since Amini’s death and the resulting protests as authorities feared further enraging people.

Many Iranians, including some women who wear the hijab themselves, believe that wearing or not wearing the hijab is a personal decision. Eighty four percent of the over 12,000 respondents to an online poll by the reformist Shargh daily in October said they were opposed to mandatory dress code and headscarves.

Since March 2023, hardliners have attempted to end women's increasing defiance of compulsory hijab and reclaim lost ground through various instructions to government bodies, but their efforts seem to have hugely backfired as the number of women who refuse to abide by the current rules has very noticeably increased since then.