An Iranian woman received 74 lashes for “offending public morality” and was sentenced to pay a fine for not wearing the Muslim veil, the judicial authority reported. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the veil has been mandatory in Iran for all women, even foreigners, who must hide their hair in public places.
“The convicted woman, Roya Heshamti, encouraged permissiveness (by going out) in a despicable manner to crowded places in Tehran,” the judicial press agency Mizan Online declared on Saturday night. “Her sentence of 74 lashes of hers was carried out in accordance with the law and Sharia” and “for violating public morality,” Mizan Online added.
The convicted woman’s lawyer, Maziar Tatati, told the reformist newspaper Shargh that his client was arrested in April “for having published a photo without a veil on social networks.”
In recent months, more and more women have appeared unveiled in public places, mainly following the protest movement sparked by the death in custody in September 2022 of Mahsa Amini, arrested for violating the strict dress code. Tatati added that Heshamti had also been fined “for not wearing the Muslim headscarf in public.”
Faced with acts of disobedience by women in relation to the use of the veil, the authorities toughened their tone and announced more controls, with the use of cameras and the arrest of actresses who posed without hijab on social networks. In September, Parliament voted in favor of a bill that would toughen penalties for those who violate the dress code.