This is the defiant moment a brave Iranian woman tore off a cleric’s turban and draped it over herself after he scolded her for not wearing a hijab at an international airport in Tehran.
The video, posted to social media by Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad, shows the unnamed woman shouting at the man in Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport.
After taking his white turban, she can be heard shouting over and over again: ‘What’s wrong with this?’
She was then seen chasing the man down while screaming: ‘What’s wrong with this? Tell me!’
Alinejad said of the woman: ‘[She] confronted a cleric harassing her for not wearing a hijab.
‘In a bold act of defiance, she removed his turban and wore it like a scarf, turning oppression into resistance.
‘For years, clerics have claimed their turbans and robes are sacred and untouchable, but this woman’s act of protest shattered that myth. Iranian women are exhausted and enraged by gender apartheid.’
Iran has long been seen as a regressive nation with regards to its attitudes and policies towards women.
These punishments are for those caught ‘promoting nudity, indecency, unveiling or improper dressing’ and could see Iranians handed fines of up to £12,500, flogging and prison sentences of up to 15 years for repeat offenders.
This includes woman which it claims are promoting or propagating indecency, unveiling or ‘bad dressing’ to foreign entities, including international media and civil society organisations.
If the Iranian authorities finds the offence has mounted to ‘corruption on earth’ the defendant could be sentenced to death under article 296 of Iran’s Islamic penal code.
Amnesty International slammed the new laws claiming that women could be sentenced to death for sending videos of themselves unveiled to media outside of the Islamic Republic.
The human rights group said the law also appeared to provide immunity for anyone who wanted to carry out their ‘religious duty’ and enforce compulsory veiling on women.
Businesses that fail to enforce the laws will also be subjected to harsh punishments or penalties.
Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East, told The Guardian: ‘This shameful law intensifies the persecution of women and girls for daring to stand up for their rights following the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising.
‘The authorities are seeking to entrench the already suffocating system of repression against women and girls while making their daily lives even more intolerable.’
The new laws also sparked outrage among Iranian activists and journalists.
Iranian human rights lawyers such as Saeid Dehghan went as far to claim it breaks article 9 of the Iranian constitution, which prohibits legislation that undermines citizens’ freedoms even in the name of national sovereignty.
