USCIRF Urges More Sanctions Over Iran's Hijab Enforcement

Iran International Newsroom
Iranian women walk on a street during the revival of morality police in Tehran, Iran, July 16, 2023.
Iranian women walk on a street during the revival of morality police in Tehran, Iran, July 16, 2023.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called for intensified sanctions against Iranian authorities for the brutal enforcement of hijab.

In a Monday statement, it condemned the ongoing crackdown on Iranian women and girls who are at the center of a nationwide defiance of the country’s mandatory hijab laws, policies which the UN has branded 'gender apartheid'.

USCIRF Commissioner Susie Gelman said the US must do more to hold Iran accountable amid mass human rights abuses as Iran continues undeterred in spite of global sanctions. Just last year, record numbers of Iranians were executed as the regime fights for its survival in the biggest uprising since the founding of the Islamic Republic. 

“Iranian authorities callously violate women’s religious freedom and target any individual advocating for freedom of religion or belief. The US government has continued to support global efforts to hold Iran accountable for its heinous acts."

"However, USCIRF urges additional sanctions on Iranian government agencies and security officials responsible for particularly severe violations of religious freedom by freezing their assets and barring their entry into the United States,” she stated.

The push for increased sanctions coincides with the Iranian regime’s new Noor initiative, an enforcement campaign of the hijab which has increased the severity and frequency of crackdowns on Iranian women.

The initiative is part of a broader effort to stifle dissent across various sectors, including human rights activists, journalists, and students, with a new wave of arrests reported recently.

In its annual report on Thursday, USCIRF advocated for the US government to support the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran and to document human rights abuses.

Furthermore, the USCIRF highlighted the systematic harassment, arrest, and torture of protesters, including minors, underlining an escalation in the enforcement of hijab laws, surveillance, and covert operations by morality police throughout 2023.