State-Run Iranian TV Channel Promotes Violence Against Women Who Don't Wear Hijabs
It's been highly publicized that women and young girls in Iran have been engaging in new ways to voice their opinions about their country's strict moral codes.
First women took to Facebook to share images of themselves without hijabs. Then women and men made their own "Happy" music video, in which the skit's actors happily paraded around with their heads uncovered.
Of course, there's been a backlash against this movement by some of Iran's most conservative forces.
Recently, one TV channel advocated violence against women who refused to wear the hijab in public — an act that's already against the law in the sharia-ruled country.
Iran’s state-run broadcast agency, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) issued a statement implicitly justifying violence against women whose heads weren't covered during a primetime talk show on May 31.
The broadcast lashed out against exiled journalist Masih Alinejad, who started the "My Stealthy Freedom" Facebook page, which has amassed a number of followers and attracted like-minded Iranian women who want to show how they'd live their lives without the hijab.
In the show, the hosts accused Alinejad of outwardly "trying to deceive Iranian girls and women."
It was then erroneously claimed that Alinejad had been found "naked under the influence of heavy drugs on a street in London" and was "raped by three men in front of her child" for her work in creating the Facebook campaign.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran called on President Hassan Rouhani to denounce this broadcast's lies, and to end its control over Iranian TV channels.
Although these things aren't likely to happen, it's clear that Iran has felt the pressure from Iranian women's efforts to gain more personal freedom, meaning that their Facebook pages and uploaded YouTube videos are accomplishing exactly what they set out to do.
