Strict hijab laws in Iran have been controversial for years now as more Iranians are campaigning against them.
Lately, Iranian authorities detained activists who expressed opposition to compulsory hijab laws and videotaped them while “confessing” retraction of their opposition, which is believed to have taken place under torture or threats.
Aiming at dissuading more Iranians from joining the opposition campaigns and instil fear in them, authorities are believed to be threatening the activists into retracting their beliefs.
2-Back in March, Saba Kord-Afshar and her mother, Raheleh Ahmadi, had sent us this video of themselves walking unveiled against compulsory hijab and in support of #WhiteWednesdays campaign, inviting people to solidarity pic.twitter.com/PLJraCS5wg
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) July 10, 2019
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, condemned the Iranian authorities violations and confirmed it detected at least six cases since April 2019, where detainees were placed in incommunicado detentions, prolonged solitary confinement and received threats against family members.
BREAKING NEWS: A new low by Iran's judiciary:
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) July 10, 2019
They've arrested #RahelehAhmadi, mother of #SabaKord_Afhshari (White Wednesdays activist).
They had forced Saba to give false confessions. Now, they want to silence her mother who had defended her through this video in the past. pic.twitter.com/gaQOug9PMR
Currently, there are at least eight Iranian women activists who are believed to be in detention as a result of their activism in the White Wednesdays, which is a movement by activists take place every Wednesday when people against compulsory hijab laws take it off in public places.
#WhiteWednesdays means solidarity between veiled and unveiled women for freedom of choice!#MojganKeshavarz, has been imprisoned for supporting women's rights in Iran.
— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) July 15, 2019
Her interrogators mock her for being alone. But they are wrong. WE ARE ALL HER FAMILY pic.twitter.com/FF2Zf6tab5
White Wednesdays in addition to several protests against the forcing-wearing hijab laws in Iran have been going on for a while now as more activists and campaigns are protesting the compulsory laws of hijab enforced in Iran by the morality police; whose main task is to impose Islamic dress codes and norms of conduct in public.
Earlier this year, videos emerged of students in Tehran University protesting about the Hijab issue in the university campus that lead to their crackdown by the so-called morality police and security forces who entered the university.
