Equality | Iran says it is reviewing a law requiring women to wear the hijab

Iran says he is reexamining a decades-old law that requires women to cover their heads.

Both the parliament and the judiciary are working on the issue, said the chancellor of justice Mohammad Jafar Montazeri on Saturday, according to Iran’s semi-official news agency Isna.

According to Montazer, results can be expected in the matter within a couple of weeks. He did not say what exactly the largely conservative-controlled parties could change in the law.

In 1983, the use of the hijab, a scarf that covers the hair and neck, became mandatory for all women in Iran.

Conservatives still want to keep the use of the headscarf mandatory, but reformists would like to remove the legal obligation and leave it up to the individual to decide.

Requirement the use of the headscarf has been on display in Iran in large demonstrations that started in mid-September. The protests began after a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini died at the hands of the chastity police. Amini had been arrested for wearing the hijab “incorrectly”.

In the demonstrations, headscarves have been burned and slogans against the administration have been shouted. More and more women have also failed to comply with the requirement to wear the hijab.

Earlier this week, a general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said for the first time that more than 300 people had died in protests since mid-September.

Iran’s National Security Council said Saturday that more than 200 people had died in the protests, according to the Irna news agency. According to the Security Council, the number also includes people who were part of the security forces.

For example, the human rights organization Iran Human Rights has, however, estimated that the security forces have killed almost 450 people while suppressing the demonstrations.

UN Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said last week that 14,000 people had been arrested in connection with the protests.