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.



Lebanon Tells Iran Its Flights to Beirut Suspended till Feb 18

 Members of the Lebanese army walk, as supporters of Hezbollah attend a protest organized by them against what they said was violation of national sovereignty, near Beirut international airport, Lebanon, February 15, 2025. (Reuters)
Members of the Lebanese army walk, as supporters of Hezbollah attend a protest organized by them against what they said was violation of national sovereignty, near Beirut international airport, Lebanon, February 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Tells Iran Its Flights to Beirut Suspended till Feb 18

 Members of the Lebanese army walk, as supporters of Hezbollah attend a protest organized by them against what they said was violation of national sovereignty, near Beirut international airport, Lebanon, February 15, 2025. (Reuters)
Members of the Lebanese army walk, as supporters of Hezbollah attend a protest organized by them against what they said was violation of national sovereignty, near Beirut international airport, Lebanon, February 15, 2025. (Reuters)

Lebanese aviation officials have told Iran that Iranian flights to Beirut are suspended until Tuesday, Hossein Pourfarzaneh, head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, was quoted as saying on Sunday by the Iranian state news agency IRNA.

Lebanon denied permission for Iranian flights to land in Beirut twice this week after the United States warned Israel might shoot the planes down, a Lebanese security source told AFP Saturday.

The first incident occurred on Thursday, when Lebanese authorities sent word to Iran that a Beirut-bound flight should not take off.

“Through the Americans, Israel informed the Lebanese state that it would target the airport if the Iranian plane landed in Lebanon,” the source said.

“The American side told the Lebanese side that Israel was serious about its threat,” the source added.

Lebanon’s public works and transport ministry then refused clearance for the flight, after consulting the prime minister and president, the source added.

The message was passed on before the flight took off, said the source.

Another flight was also barred from taking off from Iran on Friday, which prompted protests in Lebanon from supporters of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, who blocked the road to the country’s only international airport.

“The security of Beirut airport takes precedence over any other consideration,” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Saturday.

“And the safety of travelers as well as the safety of Lebanese citizens are elements on which we will not compromise.”

Israel has on several occasions accused Hezbollah of using the airport in Beirut to bring in weapons from Iran. The group -- and Lebanese leaders -- have denied those allegations.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in Lebanon since November 27, after more than a year of hostilities and two of months of open war between Israel and Hezbollah there.