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Iranian Journalists Temporarily Released Face New Legal Case for Flouting Hijab 

People walk at the old bazaar in the city of Shahr-e Ray, south of Tehran, on January 8, 2024. (AFP)
People walk at the old bazaar in the city of Shahr-e Ray, south of Tehran, on January 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Iranian Journalists Temporarily Released Face New Legal Case for Flouting Hijab 

People walk at the old bazaar in the city of Shahr-e Ray, south of Tehran, on January 8, 2024. (AFP)
People walk at the old bazaar in the city of Shahr-e Ray, south of Tehran, on January 8, 2024. (AFP)

Iran's judiciary has opened a new case against two jailed female journalists for appearing without a hijab upon their temporary release from prison, the judiciary's Mizan news agency reported on Monday.

Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, respectively sentenced to 13 and 12 years in prison for their coverage of the death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini in 2022, were released on Sunday temporarily after paying bail.

"After footage of the defendants without hijab was released online, a new case has been filed against them," Mizan said referring to a video widely shared on social media showing the two women celebrating their release with family outdoors.

The death of Amini after she was held by the morality police for allegedly violating Iran's strict dress code, triggered months of nationwide anti-government protests, in one of the boldest challenges to the country's clerical leaders in decades.

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Maldives Ban Israelis to Protest Gaza War 

The Maldives had lifted a previous ban on Israeli tourists in the early 1990s and briefly moved to restore relations in 2010. (Getty Images/AFP)
The Maldives had lifted a previous ban on Israeli tourists in the early 1990s and briefly moved to restore relations in 2010. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Maldives Ban Israelis to Protest Gaza War 

The Maldives had lifted a previous ban on Israeli tourists in the early 1990s and briefly moved to restore relations in 2010. (Getty Images/AFP)
The Maldives had lifted a previous ban on Israeli tourists in the early 1990s and briefly moved to restore relations in 2010. (Getty Images/AFP)

The Maldives announced Tuesday it was banning the entry of Israelis from the luxury tourist archipelago in "resolute solidarity" with the Palestinian people.

President Mohamed Muizzu ratified the legislation shortly after it was approved by parliament on Tuesday.

"The ratification reflects the government's firm stance in response to the continuing atrocities and ongoing acts of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people," his office said in a statement.

"The Maldives reaffirms its resolute solidarity with the Palestinian cause."

The ban will be implemented with immediate effect, a spokesman for Muizzu's office told AFP.

The Maldives, a small Islamic republic of 1,192 strategically located coral islets, is known for its secluded white sandy beaches, shallow turquoise lagoons and Robinson Crusoe-style getaways.

Official data showed that only 59 Israeli tourists visited the archipelago in February, among 214,000 other foreign arrivals.

The Maldives had lifted a previous ban on Israeli tourists in the early 1990s and briefly moved to restore relations in 2010.

Opposition parties and government allies in the Maldives have been pressuring Muizzu to ban Israelis as a statement of opposition to the Gaza war.

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged its citizens last year to avoid travelling to the Maldives.

The Gaza war broke out after Palestinian group Hamas' October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Gaza's health ministry said on Sunday that at least 1,613 Palestinians had been killed since March 18, when a ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,983.