Women in Iran are fighting back against the law that requires them to cover their hair in a protest against Iran's hardline President Ebrahim Raisi's clampdown on women's rights.
Iranian rights activists urged women to remove their veils on the National Day of Hijab and Chastity to fight back against gender oppression.
"The National Day of Hijab and Chastity is only an excuse to target women and launch a new wave of repression against Iranian people and in particular women," dozens of prominent women's rights activists said in a joint statement as per Reuters.
As a result, women across Iran have defied the rule by stripping off their veil in public and posting videos to social media alongside the hashtag #No2Hijab.
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Both men and women have been jumping on the social media trend.
One activist wrote: "As we promised. We remove our hijabs and I hope everyone joins us.
"Forcing women to wear hijab is not part of Iranian’s culture. It is the culture of the Taliban, ISIS and Islamic Republic. Enough is enough."
Another added: "I should have the right to decide what I want to wear and not be imprisoned because of my choice."
One male user tweeted: "I don't have a veil to remove. But I will come to the street to support and defend the women and girls of my land."
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Iran's Islamic Sharia law was imposed after the 1979 revolution, with women made to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures on the grounds of moral decency.
Those who disobey face public rebuke, fines or even arrest.
President Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline Muslim cleric backed by Iran's conservative religious elite, has hit out at the backlash.
According to Vice, Raisi described the movement against the hijab law as 'an organised promotion of moral corruption in Islamic society'.
While Iranian law requires women to wear head coverings, restrictions vary depending on who is in power at the time.
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Some regions are also more liberal than others, with women in the highly religious areas of Mashhad and Qom provinces tightly monitored, Vice reports.
Women who live in Tehran or Shiraz can sometimes get away with not wearing a full head veil.
But, since President Raisi’s election victory last year, a more hardline stance has been introduced.
Officials were issued directives to refuse 'badly veiled' women into government offices, banks, and even blocking them from using public transport.
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Iran's Fars news agency said several people were arrested on Monday (July 11) following anti-hijab demonstrations
Topics: World News
