Iranian protests against compulsory hijab

The Girls of Enghelab protests (Persian: دختران انقلاب) are protests against the compulsory hijab in Iran, part of the wider Iranian Democracy Movement. The protests were inspired by Vida Movahed, an Iranian woman known as the Girl of Enghelab Street (Persian: دختر خیابان انقلاب), who stood in the crowd on a utility box on Enghelab Street (Revolution Street) in Tehran on 27 December 2017 during the 2017–2018 Iranian protests who tied a white headscarf, to a stick, and waved it to the crowd as a flag. She was arrested on that day and was released temporary on bail a month later, on 28 January 2018. Some people interpreted Movahed's action as being based on Masih Alinejad's call for White Wednesdays, a protest movement that the presenter at VOA Persian Television started in early 2017. Other women later re-enacted her protest and posted photos of their actions on social media. These women are described as the "Girls of Enghelab Street" and the "Girls of Revolution Street" in English sources. Some of the protesters however claim that they were not following Masih Alinejad's call. The protests intensified in 2022 due to the death of Mahsa Amini.
The Safety pin of the girls of the Revolution street
Under the judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran imposed shortly after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, article 638 of the 5th book of Islamic Penal Code, called "Sanctions and deterrent penalties", states that women who do not wear a hijab may be imprisoned from ten days to two months and/or required to pay fines from Rls.50,000 to Rls.500,000. Fines are recalculated in the courts to index for inflation. This has been translated and published by the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School.
Article 639 of the same book says, two types of people shall be sentenced one year to ten years' imprisonment; first a person who establishes or directs a place of immorality or prostitution, second, a person who facilitates or encourages people to commit immorality or prostitution.
These are some of the laws under which some protesters were charged. During the Iranian revolution in 1979, the veil was used as a way to protest Pahlavi's government.
Before the Iranian Revolution, during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the hijab was not compulsory, though some Iranian women during this period wore headscarves or chador.
After the 1979 Islamic revolution, the hijab gradually became compulsory. In 1979, Ruhollah Khomeini announced that women should observe Islamic dress code; His statement sparked demonstrations, the 1979 International Women's Day protests in Tehran, which were met by government assurances that the statement was only a recommendation. Hijab was subsequently made mandatory in government and public offices in 1980, and in 1983 it became mandatory for all women.
In 2018, a government-run survey dating back to 2014, was released by President Hassan Rouhani, showing that 49.8% of Iranians were against compulsory or mandatory hijab. The report was released by the Center for Strategic Studies, the research arm of the Iranian President's office, and was titled "Report of the first hijab special meeting" in July 2014 in a PDF format.
On 2 February 2018, a poll conducted by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) showed that a few Iranians agreed with "changing Iran's political system or relaxing strict Islamic law".
An independent survey by GAMAAN conducted in 2020 showed that 58% of Iranians did not believe in hijab altogether, and 72% were against compulsory hijab rules. Only 15% insisted on the legal obligation to wear it in public.
Iran is the only country in the world that requires non-Muslim women to wear a headscarf. For example, in January 2018, a Chinese female musician was humiliatingly veiled in the middle of her concert performance.
On 27 December 2017, pictures and videos of Movahed waving her scarf went viral through the hashtag "Where_is_she?" (#دختر_خیابان_انقلاب_کجاست, "Where is the girl of Enghelab Street" in Persian) on social media. While at first she was unknown, days later, Nasrin Sotoudeh, the human rights activist and lawyer who has also been arrested, found out that the woman is 31 years old and was arrested on the spot with her 19-month-old baby.
On 28 January 2018, according to Nasrin Sotoudeh, the lawyer investigating the case, Vida Movahed was released; temporary on bail.
On 29 January 2018, a woman was arrested in Tehran after reenacting Movahed's protest by standing on the same utility box in Enqelab Street, taking off her white Hijab, and holding it up on a stick. Photos posted on social media show that at least three other women reenacted Movahed's protest in Tehran on 29 January, including one near Ferdowsi Square.
According to Nasrin Sotoudeh on 30 January 2018, the second woman who was arrested on 29 January 2018 was Narges Hosseini (Persian: نرگس حسینی); her age is 32.
On 30 January 2018, several more women, but also men, protested against the compulsory hijab law by reenacting Movahed's protest. This took place in Tehran, as well as other cities as well including Esfahan and Shiraz.
On 1 February 2018 the Iranian Police department announced they had arrested 29 women for taking off their hijab.
According to Nasrin Sotoudeh, the Iranian lawyer, Narges Hosseini known as the second girl of Enghelab street, who is 32 years old was unable to pay the US$135,000 bail set by the judge presiding over her case, facing a possible 10 years in prison and up to 74 lashes on charges including openly committing a sinful act.
New photos and video shared on social media shows another woman re-enacting Movahed's protest on the same street, Enghelab Street (Revolution Street) on 15 February 2018 was identified as Azam Jangravi, videos shows that the police took her down aggressively. According to her latest Instagram picture, she said that she was a part of Iranian women Reformists and Executives of Construction Party and has taken no orders from someone either inside or outside the country, she said she has done that to protest against compulsory hijab.
Narges Hosseini and Azam Jangravi were released from the custody temporary on bail.
Another female protester named Shaparak Shajarizadeh (Persian: شاپرک شجری زاده) was arrested protesting with a white scarf on Wednesday, 21 February 2018 in a Gheytarieh street; eyewitnesses said that the police attacked her from behind and took her in custody.
Photos shared on social media shows that the government was placing an inverted v-shaped iron structure on the utility boxes so as to inhibit anyone standing on top of the boxes. She was sentenced to two years in prison in addition to an 18-year suspended prison term. In addition, she stated that she left Iran.
Another woman named Maryam Shariatmadari (Persian: مریم شریعتمداری) was protesting compulsory hijab in the afternoon on a utility box; the police asked her to come down and the woman refused and questioned the police what her crime was, the police replied "disturbing the peace". Then, as she was violently ejected by the police, she was injured and her leg was broken.
Shaparak Shajarizadeh was beaten up in custody. She was released later temporary on bail.
Eyewitnesses said that another women named Hamraz Sadeghi (Persian: همراز صادقی) was protesting compulsory hijab on Saturday, 24 February 2018 when suddenly she was attacked by an unknown security force, her arm was broken and she was arrested.
On 8 July 2018, Iranian teenager Maedeh Hojabri was arrested after she posted videos of herself dancing to Western and Iranian music on her Instagram account without her headscarf. She was among several popular Instagram users, with more than 600,000 followers. Her videos were shared by hundreds of people. Several Iranian women posted videos of themselves dancing to protest her arrest.
On 27 October 2018, students in Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch protested after a morality police van entered the campus and attempted to arrest several women for improper hijab. Videos showed a student standing in front of the van, attempting to block its exit, which lead to the driver of the van attempting to run her over.
On 29 October 2018, an Iranian woman stood on the dome of Enghelab square in Tehran, and removed her headscarf in protest to the compulsory hijab. She was arrested minutes later by the police. On 14 April 2019, it was revealed that she was Vida Movahed, the original Girl of Enghelab Street, that was protesting for the second time.
On 15 February 2019, the morality police attempted to arrest two girls for improper hijab in the Narmak area of Tehran and were met with resistance from bystanders. A group of people gathered around the van, breaking the windows, tearing the door off, and freeing the two girls inside. A video from the incident shows police firing shots into the air to disperse the crowd. Tehran police later confirmed the incident.
On 7 March 2019, two women were arrested in Kangavar after they protested the compulsory hijab by walking the streets of the city without their hijab on.
On International Women's Day (8 March), groups of women in Tehran appeared unveiled and protested the oppression of women. A video showed two unveiled women holding a red sign, which read "International Women's Day is a promise of a just world for all of humanity", on a Valiasr Street. Another video showed a group of unveiled women on a Tehran Metro car handing out flowers to passengers.
On 11 March 2019, a man stood on a box on Enghelab street and waved a white scarf on a stick. He was arrested on the scene by the security forces.
On 13 May 2019, students at the University of Tehran gathered to protest the increasing pressures to obey the mandatory headscarf rule. Plainclothes vigilantes attacked students who were protesting. Students also carried signs demanding freedom and free elections.
In August 2019, Iranian civil rights activist Saba Kord Afshari was sentenced to 24 years behind bars, including a 15-year term for taking off her hijab in public, which Iranian authorities say promoted "corruption and prostitution".
On 16 September 2022, a 22-year-old Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini was killed in custody of the Guidance Patrol in Tehran due to police brutality. Many people from all over the world reacted to Amini's death, and sparked a series of anti-hijab protests across the country.
On 20 September 2022, 16-year-old Iranian teenager Nika Shakarami (Persian: نیکا شاکرمی) disappeared in Tehran during the 2022 Iranian protests following the death of Mahsa Amini. Her family was informed of her death ten days later. She had died under suspicious circumstances suspected to involve violence by security forces.
Many women demonstrators have defiantly taken off their hijabs and burned them in bonfires or symbolically cut their hair in protest.