Iran will not discard hijab rules, says top official

HYDERABAD:   The Iranian government has no plan to change its stand on the dress code for women. “Our rules and regulations stand by what the Quran and Islam teach and all we want is very minimal. We do not want people to be covered from top to toe; it's a matter of wearing decent clothes,” said Dr Khadija Karimi, director general (international affairs women and family affairs), Iran.

Speaking with the media during a conference on Iranian women’s achievements, at the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran here, Prof. Zahra Sadat Mir Hashemi, chairman, department of Islamic laws and jurisprudence, Az-Zahra Women University, said that the protests in Iran were being used to spread false propaganda about the country.

Claiming that the media was wrongly projecting Iran, she said, “There were 800 protests on several matters and all of them were addressed appropriately and peacefully. As regards the hijab protests, it has become the most spoken topic across the globe as people are making wrong use of the media.”

On the death of Mahsa Amini after being arrested in Tehran, Dr Khadija said that she succumbed to medical complications. Contradicting the viral videos of the protests, Dr Khadija said, “Iran is at peace and there are no protests in any part of the country.”

“We are not taking away people’s right to freedom. Like in any other country, we have imposed certain regulations on the type of clothes women should wear and this cannot be termed brutal or wrong,” Dr Khadija said. Women needed to realise that the regulations were meant for their safety.

“It is a country's internal matter if they want to allow hijab or not. We shall not stand for any country when it comes to such things,” Dr Khadija said when asked if Iran would stand with Muslims in any country if the hijab is banned.

With regard to the rise in smuggling from Iran, Mahdi Shahrokhi, consul general of the Iran consulate in Hyderabad said that Iran was working to reduce it. “We have also signed pacts with India with regard to smuggling from Iran. The two countries are working together,” he said.

The official said that Iran was planning to come up with rules to ensure development and protection of women. Emphasising that Iran was providing equal opportunities for its women, the officials said that 40 per cent of physicians and 30 per cent of those handling subspecialty wings were women.

“We are overcoming women and girl’s illiteracy with a ratio of 99.3 per cent,” Dr Khadija said.