Iran's Hijab Clampdown Draws Condemnation From Jailed Activists

The denouncements follow reports of widespread arrests and police violence throughout the country.

Prominent Iranian scholar and university professor, Sedigheh Vasmaghi, denounced her arrest for defying mandatory hijab laws.

Currently imprisoned in Tehran's Evin Prison, Vasmaghi, in a message dated April 2024, condemned the authorities' actions as "antipatriotic and against national interests."

"Ordering engagement with people, particularly women, for a specific reason like hijab enforcement is not only unpatriotic and unforgivable, but also detrimental to the nation's well-being," Vasmaghi's message from prison reads. "The inevitable consequences of this order will undoubtedly fall on those who issued it and those who carry it out."

Jailed Iranian human rights activist and Nobel laureate, Narges Mohammadi, joined the chorus of condemnation. "Desperate to mask its crumbling legitimacy and failing authority," she asserted from Evin Prison, "the Islamic Republic has transformed the streets into a battleground against women and youth, wielding fear and intimidation as weapons."

Mohammadi further emphasized that the regime's "shameful domestic domination and brute force" are a pathetic attempt to compensate for its "weak and absurd claims" on the world stage. "The ongoing civil disobedience and brave resistance of Iranian women in the streets," she concluded, "have shaken the foundations of the Islamic Republic."