All posts tagged: Dress Code

Shooting of former boxing champion highlights brutality of Iran’s ‘morality police’

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It all started as a citation for an improperly worn headscarf, but the incident escalated when former Iranian boxing champion Reza Moradkhani was shot four times by Iran’s “morality police” on April 28, after they questioned his wife. The incident, which left him severely injured, adds to the long list of abuses by the morality police, known for their brutal enforcement of a strict Islamic dress code. Following the altercation with the morality police, known in Iran as the Gasht-e Ershad, Reza Moradkhani, a former member of the Iranian national boxing team and boxing champion in Asia, underwent 12 hours of surgery for his injuries and is now partially paralysed. Moradkhani and his wife, Maria Arefi, also a boxer, submitted a lawsuit against the morality police officer after the shooting, saying that they were advised: “not to go public with the story”. But in June, the court dismissed their case and the couple went to the media. READ MORE: Inside Iran’s “morality police” – women use their smartphones to fight back Suddenly the officer took out …

Taliban enforces burqa for female journalists: ‘We are the last ones resisting’

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On May 19, female television hosts and journalists working in Afghan broadcasting received a new order from the Taliban: “Cover your face”. Our Observer, an Afghan TV presenter, explains how she received the order and how Afghan journalists have been resisting the Taliban’s resolve to “remove women from society”. The Taliban’s Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice issued the order to female journalists around Afghanistan, to be observed from Saturday, May 21. The Taliban made it clear that “any female presenter who appeared on screen without covering her face must be given some other job or simply removed”, according to Sonia Niazi, a presenter with TOLOnews. The day after the order came in, female journalists from three privately owned media companies in Afghanistan refused to comply, going on air with their faces visible. However, on May 22, they succumbed to the directive, citing “pressure and threats from the Taliban”, wearing a burqa or mask over the bottom half of their faces. Many male journalists and TV presenters in Afghanistan began wearing black …

Afghanistan: Since the return of the burqa, women are slowly disappearing from the streets

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On May 7, the Taliban ordered all Afghan women to wear the full-coverage burqa in public places. Since the decree was put in place, the difference in Afghanistan’s streets is visible. Or rather it’s invisible: women have all but deserted public streets to remain cloistered in their homes. Although our Observer dared to leave home to protest with other women’s rights activists on May 10, she has no illusions about the future that awaits her. “Those women who are not too old or young must cover their face, except the eyes, as per sharia directives, in order to avoid provocation when meeting men who are not mahram (adult close male relatives),” says the decree, which came into force on May 7, announced by Taliban leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. The images of daily life in Kabul, Herat or Mazar-e Sharif on social media show that the order has been followed: women seem to be absent from the streets, markets and parks. Akhundzada specified the consequences for breaking this decree on May 6: “First, the woman wearing immoral …

Inside Iran’s “morality police” – women use their smartphones to fight back

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With black chadors over their uniforms, officers of Iran’s “guidance patrols” are a scourge for Iranian women who want to wear bright colours and push the limits of the Islamic Republic’s dress code. But some Iranian women are fighting back, using their smartphones to document what happens once they are arrested. The Gasht-e-Ershad (guidance patrol) is Iran’s morality police. Part of the regular police force, its male and female officers are charged with enforcing Islamic codes in Iranian society, and have the power to arrest people they think are violating them. While the total number of its officers is unknown, a spokesman said the force made 207,000 arrests between March 2013 and March 2014, and notified a total of 2 million women that their hijab (Islamic dress) was not correct. Under Iran’s Islamic law, women are supposed to cover everything except their face and hands. Conservative women wear the chador – a black garment that covers the head and goes down to the ankles. But other women choose to wear a scarf that covers their …