Pezeshkian between a rock and a hard place over hijab

Iran's president must decide whether to enforce the hardliners' new hijab law, risking alienation of millions of voters, or refuse to sign it and challenge the conservative establishment.

The hijab law that hardliner lawmakers have succeeded in finalizing will impose an array of penalties including heavy cash fines and prison terms on women for not conforming with strict hijab regulations and businesses for not enforcing them.

The hardline Guardian Council’s approval of the legislation this week means Pezeshkian must now decide whether to officially communicate the new law to government organizations for implementation.

Hardliners in parliament and elsewhere insist that "all government forces must cooperate in its implementation, and no one should cause obstruction.,” as an influential lawmaker said on September 18.

The announcement coincided with the second anniversary of Mahsa (Jina) Amini's death in custody, which, after her arrest for violating hijab rules, sparked months of protests and unrest across Iran in September 2022.

The Guardian Council's approval of the law, a year after it passed Parliament, could pose significant challenges for Pezeshkian as he travels to New York on Sunday to deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. The timing makes him vulnerable in potential interviews with international media, adding pressure during his visit.

The President has five days, from the time his office receives the notification from Parliament, to sign and communicate the law for implementation. It is not clear whether Pezeshkian’s office has already received the legislation or not.

If Pezeshkian declines to sign and communicate the new law within the required timeframe, the responsibility will fall to Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf to deliver it to government agencies.

Ghalibaf has formed an undeclared alliance with Pezeshkian against ultra-hardliners who he holds responsible for his defeat in the recent presidential elections. Many among his supporters are also against the implementation of the hijab law.

Pezeshkian will not be the first president to leave the communication of legislation he disapproves of to the speaker. Both Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani have done that before.

Taking such a stance will provide ammunition to his opponents who will accuse him of favoring ‘lawlessness’ despite his repeated assertions that for him the Law comes above everything.

In early August, Parliament approved all Pezeshkian’s proposed ministers, possibly because they received ‘advice’ that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wanted a cabinet to be formed urgently and without too much ado in the wake of Israel’s killing of Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in the heart of the Iranian capital.

Ultra-hardliner lawmakers then began pushing again for the finalization of the controversial hijab bill by the Guardian Council. Pundits say the Council delayed the approval of the bill and its implementation during Ebrahim Raisi’s presidency for the fear of a popular backlash and making Raisi’s government vulnerable.

Raisi’s government, nevertheless, launched the Nour (Light) Plan in early April to force women, who increasingly appeared in public without the compulsory hijab, back into submission to the rules.

Sources on the ground say the presence of women with no hijab in public is now 'very normal' in Tehran and many other large and small cities and towns.

Under the plan, thousands of businesses have been shut down for failing to ensure compliance among their customers. Similarly, tens of thousands of cars have been impounded for carrying unveiled passengers.

Pezeshkian takes pride in the fact that the women in his family, including his daughter—who has frequently appeared by his side since he registered to run—wear the hijab. However, he firmly maintains that violence against women is neither acceptable nor justified.
During his campaign debates and meetings, Pezeshkian labeled the proposed hijab law the "Darkness Plan" and pledged to end morality police patrols and the use of violence against women for not adhering to hijab rules.
In a 2014 interview, Pezeshkian revealed that he had personally led efforts to enforce hijab on university hospital staff in the early days of the Islamic Revolution, four decades ago.