Rouhani Clashes with Iranian Clergy over Women Arrested for 'Bad Hijab'

In a pre-summer ritual, an Iranian policewoman warns a young
woman about her clothing and hair during a crackdown to
enforce the Islamic dress code. 

THE GUARDIAN: With summer approaching, president has provoked a row with senior clerics after criticising police for enforcing a strict interpretation of dress codes

President Hassan Rouhani, who came to office in 2013 partly on the votes of young, middle-class women, knows that in the summer, hundreds or even thousands will be arrested by the morality police for “bad hijab”, a slack interpretation of the official dress code requiring women to cover their hair and figure even as temperatures push 40 degrees.

In his remark last year that “you can’t send people to heaven by the whip”, the president expressed a belief that citizens should not be forced into “good” behaviour, and in two recent speeches he skirted the issue of hijab, provoking a critical response from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, and from senior members of the clergy.

In late April, the president told an assembly of Iranian police officers the duty of the police was solely to enforce the law. “The police’s job is not to enforce Islam, and furthermore, none among them can claim that their actions are sanctioned by God or the prophet [Mohammad].” » | Tehran Bureau correspondent | Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Revealed: Dress Code at Islamic school that Forces Female Teachers to Wear a Hijab Regardless of Religion

MAIL ONLINE: A former teacher at the 'multi-faith' Al-Madinah School in Derby has told how staff were issued with a Quran-quoting dress code / The 50-year-old claims she was forced to quit when she wouldn't comply / Al-Madinah is already being investigated by the Education Funding Agency / Officials from the Office for Standards in Education are also expected to inspect the school within days following other allegations

A teacher has revealed how she was forced to resign after refusing to comply with a strict school dress code insisting all female staff wear hijabs regardless of their religion.

Al-Madinah School has imposed strict conditions on what teachers can wear and has told staff they can't take non-halal food into school or wear jewellery.

Now a former teacher, who has more 20 years of classroom experience, has told how she was forced to quit after being 'hassled' when she deviated from the Quran-quoting dress code.

The 50-year-old started working at Al-Madinah when it opened as a multi-faith free school a year ago.

She said: 'It wasn’t until an induction session, just before the school opened, that female non-Muslim staff were told they must wear a head covering, which was not made clear at any time during my interview for the job or was part of any contract.

'I reluctantly complied and either wore a head scarf or small hat, but took it off when I wasn’t in the classroom, but for which I was reprimanded.

'Wearing the head covering was difficult for me because I am a Christian and had I known it was compulsory for non-Muslim staff I would never have accepted the position.'

The teacher, who does not want to be named, said she was even sent a text from the school saying it 'insisted on' a 'modest dress code. Full length dress or skirt acceptable'. She said she asked how her outfit - a business suit - was not modest. 'The skirt was well below the knee and I wore thick black tights that covered my legs', she said.

The teacher told how she was offended at the suggestion her clothes were 'immodest' and was left particularly angry after being was told to take instructions from two male teachers about what was considered 'modest'. Read on and comment » | Susannah Hills | Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Necklace Ban for Men as Tehran's 'Moral Police' Enforce Dress Code

THE GUARDIAN: More than 70,000 trained forces sent out to streets as part of effort to combat 'western cultural invasion'

Iranian men have been banned from wearing necklaces in the latest crackdown by the Islamic regime on "un-Islamic" clothing and haircuts.

Thousands of special forces have been deployed in Tehran's streets, participating in the regime's "moral security plan" in which loose-fitting headscarves, tight overcoats and shortened trousers that expose skin will not be tolerated for women, while men are warned against glamorous hairstyles and wearing a necklace.

The new plan comes shortly after the Iranian parliament proposed a bill to criminalise dog ownership, on the grounds that it "poses a cultural problem, a blind imitation of the vulgar culture of the west".

The Irna state news agency said the trend was aimed at combating "the western cultural invasion" with help from more than 70,000 trained forces, known as "moral police", who are sent out to the streets in the capital and other cities.

With the summer heat sweeping across the country, many people, especially the young, push the boundaries and run the risk of being fined, or even arrested, for wearing "bad hijab" clothing. » | Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Tuesday, June 14, 2011

On a Visit to Saudi Arabia, Doing What the Saudis Do
THE NEW YORK TIMES: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” is a maxim derived from advice that St. Ambrose is said to have offered to St. Augustine in the late 4th century.

It’s still a pretty good idea, which would partly explain why Karen Post said she went shopping not long ago for an abaya, the robelike dress worn by some Muslim women. Ms. Post, who is a branding consultant, was headed for Saudi Arabia on a business trip.

“Online, I found a company that sells Islamic clothing,” she said. “For like $49, I found a really nice black abaya that fit perfectly.”

Late last month, she flew to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to give a talk on branding to about 400 executives and marketing employees with Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Now, doing as the Romans do is one thing. Doing as the Saudis do, especially for a woman, is something else.

A State Department travel warning advises American citizens to take precautions in the country, where laws against alcohol and even playing music in public are strictly enforced. Women are especially restricted. State Department guidelines note, for example, that the religious police can “pressure women to wear” the full-length black covering known as an abaya, “and to cover their heads.” Women can’t drive in the country and are strongly advised not to appear in public without an approved male escort.

Nevertheless, Western female business travelers do venture these days into Saudi Arabia. Like Ms. Post, they make it a point to learn the drill. » | Joe Sharkey | Monday, March 14, 2011

The Sudan: Knee-length Skirts Are ‘Indecent’
MAIL ONLINE: A girl of 16 was given 50 lashes after a judge ruled her knee length skirt was indecent.

Silva Kashif was punished without her family being told after she was arrested while walking alone near her home in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

Her mother, Jenty Doro, said: ‘I only heard about it after she was lashed. Later we all sat and cried.

‘She is just a young girl but the policeman pulled her along like she was a criminal. It was wrong.’

She said she would sue the police and the judge because her daughter is a Christian and underage.

The law states that under-18s should not be given lashes.

Doro said Khashif was taken to Kalatla court where she was convicted and punished by a female police officer in front of the judge.

'I only heard about it after she was lashed. Later we all sat and cried ... People have different religions and that should be taken into account' she said.

Khartoum is governed by Islamic sharia law. But although Miss Kashif is living there she is originally from the south of the country, which is not. Fifty lashes for the teenage girl who wore an 'indecent' knee length skirt in Sudan >>> | Saturday, November 28, 2009

Hamas Patrols Beaches in Gaza to Enforce Conservative Dress Code
THE GUARDIAN: Lawyers resist campaign to make Palestinian society more Islamist

A mounted Hamas officer rides along the beach at Gaza City, on the lookout for infringements of Islamic dress codes. Photo: The Guardian
It began with a rash of unusually assertive police patrols. Armed Hamas officers stopped men from sitting shirtless on the beach, broke up groups of unmarried men and women, and ordered shopkeepers not to display lingerie on mannequins in their windows.

Then came an effort to force female lawyers to abide by a more conservative dress code, and intense pressure on parents to dress their daughters more conservatively for the new school term. Last week police began enforcing a new decree banning women from riding on motorbikes.

For the first time since Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections nearly four years ago, the group is trying to Islamise Gazan society. In public, Hamas leaders say they are merely encouraging a social moral code, and insist they are not trying to imitate the religious police who operate in some other rigid Islamic countries. But to many it feels like a new wave of enforcement in what is already a devoutly Muslim society.

Asmaa al-Ghoul, a writer and former journalist, was one of the first to run up against the new campaign. She spent an evening with a mixed group of friends in a beachside cafe in late June. After dark, she and another female friend went swimming wearing long trousers and T-shirts. Moments after leaving the water they found themselves confronted by a group of increasingly aggressive Hamas police officers. "Where is your father? Your husband?" one officer asked her. Ghoul, 27, was told her behaviour had not been respectable. Five of her male friends were beaten and detained for several hours.

"I believe our society is secular, but some Islamic parties want to change the idea of this society to make it religious," she said. She does not wear a headscarf, a choice that is increasingly rare for women in Gaza and generally confined only to those living in the wealthier areas of Gaza City. She routinely suffers taunts from other Palestinians as she walks from her home to her favourite coffee shops. "We're just afraid to be ourselves in the street," she said. "Hamas uses Islam in the mosque to try and control people's hearts." >>> Rory McCarthy in Gaza City | Sunday, October 18, 2009

Iran Bans Curves: Police Order Shop Owners to Cover Mannequins Up
MAIL ONLINE: Often the sight of how well a piece of clothing fits on a mannequin can make a fashionista's mind up.

Not so in Iran, where police have banned any exposed body curves in shop windows.

Authorities warned shopkeepers yesterday that all mannequins must be covered up - wearing headscarves and hiding any of the body's curves that may be showing.

They have also banned the selling of women's underwear by men.

'Using unusual mannequins exposing the body curves and with the heads without Hijabs (Muslim veil) [sic] are prohibited to be used in the shops,' Iran's moral security police in charge of Islamic dress codes said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.

Iranian police have stepped up a crackdown on both women and men, boutiques and small companies which fail to enforce strict religious dress codes since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to office in 2005.

The measures are the latest in a country-wide campaign against Western cultural influences in the Islamic Republic, where strict dress codes are enforced. >>> | Thursday, September 24, 2009

Iran Cracks Down on ‘Vice’
My God! Haven’t these stupid people got better things to do with their time? Isn’t it about time that ‘petticoat power’ showed what it is all about in that God-forsaken hole? By the way, Ahmadinejad, where in the Qur'an does it specifically say that a woman cannot wear a hat?

Photo courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Iranian newspapers have printed a list of moral vices that the police are targeting, including wearing make-up and hats instead of headscarves.

The police say they will also suppress "decadent" films, drugs and alcohol.

This year has seen one of the most ferocious crackdowns on un-Islamic behaviour and improper Islamic dress by the authorities for at least a decade.

But it has now emerged the current campaign has the overt backing of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The police are warning they will deal seriously with any women who dare to wear short trousers, skimpy overcoats or skirts that are revealingly transparent or have slits in them.

Wearing boots instead of full length trousers will not be tolerated, nor will hats instead of headscarves.

Indeed, the police stipulate that small headscarves are out - the scarf must cover a woman's head and neck completely.

The police say they will also clamp down on "decadent" films, drugs, alcohol, extortion and general thuggish behaviour, but it is issues of dress that are given most prominence. Iran launches anti-vice crackdown (more) By Frances Harrison

BBC:
Anger at Iran dress restrictions By Frances Harrison

Mark Alexander

Interfering, Cruel, Iranian Policewomen Enforce the “Islamic Dress Code” on Iranian Women in the Street


Mark Alexander

Irani Reprobates* to be Given “Islamic Guidance”
YAHOO NEWS: TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran has issued more than a thousand warnings and arrested dozens in a new drive aimed at forcing women whose dress is deemed inappropriate to adhere to Islamic dress rules, officials said Sunday.

The nationwide drive -- an annual pre-summer crackdown given greater prominence this year -- is aimed primarily at women whose coats are seen as too tight, trousers excessively short or hejabs (headscarves) overly loose.

It foresees handing out warnings and guidance to women found to have infringed its dress code in public. Those who show resistance to change can be arrested and then be the subject of legal proceedings.

"Since the plan started at 10:00 am on Saturday, 1,347 women have been warned and given Islamic guidance," the head of information at Tehran city's police force, Mehdi Ahmadi, told AFP. Iran warns women over slack dressing by Farhad Pouladi

* 'Loose' women who dare to go against Iran’s strict Islamic dress code

Mark Alexander