Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said he rejects accusing Iranian women with loose hijabs of being “anti-religion or anti-revolutionary.”
The leader’s statement comes four months into the protests that were set off by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in a hospital days after being arrested by the country’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s dress codes.
Khamenei said that women in loose hijabs are “our daughters” and urged that they are not ostracized.
“The hijab is a religious and inviolable necessity, but this inviolable necessity should not mean that someone without a full hijab should be accused of anti-religion or anti-revolutionary,” added Khamenei.
Khamenei also expressed his openness to hiring women in decision-making positions.
“The proposal to employ educated women with knowledge, experience and wisdom at various levels and in decision-making is an important issue that has been on my mind for a long time. God willing, we will find a solution,” said Khamenei.
In his speech, Khamenei criticized the positions of Western countries regarding the protests that shook Iran under the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom.”
He accused the West of “hypocrisy,” and said that his country was under “attack” regarding women’s rights, according to Khamenei’s official website.
Although Khamenei has commented several times on the protests and accused Iran’s enemies of fueling them, this is the first time he has commented on the debate over the hijab, in light of the demands to drop the compulsory hijab law in Iran.
The Human Rights Activist News Agency, or HRANA, said that, as of January 2, at least 516 people had been killed during the unrest, including 70 minors, as security forces try to stifle widespread dissent.
