Khamenei’s man slams government spokeswoman over hijab

A senior official representing Iran’s Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has criticized President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government over enforcement of the latest controversial hijab legislation.

“In a recent interview, the government’s spokeswoman declared that hijab is not something [that authorities] can impose by force,” Ali Saeedi who heads the Ideological-Political Bureau of Iran's Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, on Friday told Howzah News, the news agency of Iran's Shia seminaries.

At an October 29 press briefing, a reporter questioned government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani on whether Pezeshkian's administration was taking steps to prevent police from penalizing women for defying the hijab law by impounding their vehicles. “That is still happening,” the reporter stressed.

Mohajerani replied that compliance with the hijab cannot be achieved through pressure and violence. She noted that over the past forty years, experience has shown that forceful methods are ineffective.

She also stressed that the President still abides by his promise to the Iranian people to try to put a stop to using such methods to enforce hijab.

“Her Highness is not mindful of the fact that hijab is both a Sharia rule and a [civil] law requirement,” Saeedi said in a harsh tone and added that the administration is required to abide by the Sharia and implement the civil law. 

Saeedi accused the government of neglecting its responsibility and adopting a lenient stance toward what he described as "libertinism and vulgarism" concerning the hijab issue.

The recently finalized hijab law imposes an array of penalties including heavy cash fines and prison terms on women for not conforming to strict hijab regulations and businesses for not enforcing them.

The finalization of the legislation, a year after it passed Parliament, was announced on October 19 by Hadi Tahan-Nazif, the constitutional Guardian Council’s spokesman. Parliament legislation only becomes effective after the clerical council approves it.

During this time, the Parliament and the Guardian Council repeatedly shuffled the legislation back and forth behind closed doors.

The Council and lawmakers disclosed very little of the Council’s objections to the legislation's provisions and the amendments that it required the Parliament to make before it was finally approved.

The announcement placed Pezeshkian in a dilemma. As president, he is legally obligated to sign and formally relay new legislation to his administration for enactment within five days of receiving notification from Parliament.

In the past, presidents like Hassan Rouhani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and others have repeatedly refused to acknowledge or enact legislation they opposed. In such instances, the responsibility to communicate the legislation falls to the speaker of parliament.

However, neither Pezeshkian nor Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf has taken the legally required step or provided any explanation for the delay—an unprecedented situation in the history of the Islamic Republic.

Pundits say Ghalibaf, who has formed an undeclared alliance with Pezeshkian against ultra-hardliners, is cautious about taking responsibility for enacting the highly unpopular law, which could even spark unrest. Meanwhile, Pezeshkian is deeply concerned about alienating his voters, many of whom strongly support abolishing the compulsory hijab.