Vanak

Would Iranians vote against the forced hijab had they been able to participate in a referendum about the issue today? "I can't predict but freedom to have hijab is a basic right, not one to put on a referendum." She said: "I want to live in a country where both me, who doesn't have hijab, and my sister, who prefers hijab, can live along each other." In the 40C heat of an Iranian summer, many women in the country push the boundaries, wearing loose hijab or sporting clothing and haircuts the authorities deem "un-Islamic". At the same time, the religious police are often deployed on the streets, cracking down on those with "bad hijab" or arresting those who defy the rules. Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, has spoken out against the crackdown, but his government has little control over these forces, who operate under other Iranian political institutes such as the revolutionary guards.
"I'm certainly against these actions," the president said last year. "If a woman or a man does not comply with our rules for clothing, his or her virtue should not come under question … In my view, many women in our society who do not respect our hijab laws are virtuous. Our emphasis should be on the virtue." Hardliners have warned Rouhani against any compromise. Last week, a group of conservative men and women staged a protest in Tehran demanding a tightening of Islamic rules on hijab. Women in chador, a full dress covering head to toe, were also there demanding the authorities to act about those with bad hijab. Thousands of Iranian women are protesting their nation’s oppressive culture by tossing aside their hijabs and taking selfies that are turning up in a growing Facebook gallery.

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Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. ---George Orwell