Iranian authorities to Impose More Stringent Hijab Laws

A collective picture of the victims of the Iranian regime (Iran International
A collective picture of the victims of the Iranian regime (Iran International
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Iranian authorities to Impose More Stringent Hijab Laws

A collective picture of the victims of the Iranian regime (Iran International
A collective picture of the victims of the Iranian regime (Iran International

Iranian authorities intend to enforce the requirement for women to wear the veil more strictly through video surveillance, according to Iranian media.

Iran's Etemad newspaper said on Friday that the parliamentary justice committee wants to expand the scope of monitoring already used in road traffic to include public places.

Women will be warned at first, via a text message, in the event of violations, and in the event of a repeat violation, the violations will be punished by imposing a fine on them.

At the beginning of January, Etemad had already published a report on reforms to penalize violations of the Islamic dress code more stringently.

At the time, there was talk of community service assignments, re-education courses, bans on leaving the country, employment restrictions and fines.

For months now, the notorious morality police, who used to patrol the headscarf law, have almost completely disappeared from the streets.

Many women in Iran's big cities no longer wear the veil. Critics in Iran complain about the lack of social support for the new tightening of laws.

For more than four months, Iranians have been demonstrating against oppressive policies.

A wave of protests had erupted due to the death of the Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody after the morality police had arrested her for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code.

In other news, Reuters reported that social media images purported to be of an emaciated jailed Iranian dissident on hunger strike have caused outrage online as supporters warned on Friday he risks death for protesting the compulsory wearing of the hijab.

Farhad Meysami, 53, who has been in jail since 2018 for supporting women activists protesting against Iran's headscarf policy, began his hunger strike on Oct. 7 to protest recent government killings of demonstrators, the dissident's lawyer said.



Tunisia Activists Launch Gaza-bound Convoy in 'Symbolic Act'

 Tunisians gather at a meeting point in Tunis on June 9, 2025, ahead of the departure of a land convoy named “Steadfastness” to break the siege on Gaza. (AFP)
Tunisians gather at a meeting point in Tunis on June 9, 2025, ahead of the departure of a land convoy named “Steadfastness” to break the siege on Gaza. (AFP)
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Tunisia Activists Launch Gaza-bound Convoy in 'Symbolic Act'

 Tunisians gather at a meeting point in Tunis on June 9, 2025, ahead of the departure of a land convoy named “Steadfastness” to break the siege on Gaza. (AFP)
Tunisians gather at a meeting point in Tunis on June 9, 2025, ahead of the departure of a land convoy named “Steadfastness” to break the siege on Gaza. (AFP)

Hundreds of people, mainly Tunisians, launched on Monday a land convoy bound for Gaza, seeking to "break the siege" on the Palestinian territory, activists said.

Organizers said the nine-bus convoy was not bringing aid into Gaza, but rather aimed at carrying out a "symbolic act" by breaking the blockade on the territory described by the United Nations as "the hungriest place on Earth".

The "Soumoud" convoy, meaning "steadfastness" in Arabic, includes doctors and aims to arrive in Rafah, in southern Gaza, "by the end of the week", activist Jawaher Channa told AFP.

It is set to pass through Libya and Egypt, although Cairo has yet to provide passage permits, she added.

"We are about a thousand people, and we will have more join us along the way," said Channa, spokeswoman of the Tunisian Coordination of Joint Action for Palestine, the group organizing the caravan.

"Egypt has not yet given us permission to cross its borders, but we will see what happens when we get there," she said.

Channa said the convoy was not set to face issues crossing Libya, "whose people have historically supported the Palestinian cause", despite recent deadly clashes in the country that remains divided between two governments.

Algerian, Mauritanian, Moroccan and Libyan activists were also among the group, which is set to travel along the Tunisian and Libyan coasts, before continuing on to Rafah through Egypt.

After 21 months of war, Israel is facing mounting international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza to alleviate widespread shortages of food and basic supplies.

On June 1, the Madleen aid boat, boarded by activists including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and European parliament member Franco-Palestinian Rima Hassan, set sail for Gaza from Italy.

But on Monday morning Israel intercepted it, preventing it from reaching the Palestinian territory.

The UN has warned that the Palestinian territory's entire population is at risk of famine.