Iranian Universities Intensify Hijab Enforcement

After the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini and the subsequent protests, Iranian universities have also faced heightened repression and intensified control.

The government's new "Population Growth" initiative, coupled with mandatory hijab laws, has transformed universities into enforcers of these policies, placing additional pressure on female students.

Under the policy, universities offer academic grades and incentives for observing mandatory hijab, marrying, or having children, effectively turning these institutions into vehicles for promoting the Islamic Republic’s ideological goals.

Mandatory Hijab Tied to Academic Performance

Recent reports from multiple Iranian universities obtained by IranWire reveal an increased push to enforce mandatory hijab compliance among students.

Some university professors have begun awarding "Islamic and moral attire" points to comply with government-mandated dress codes. The professors, often teaching specialized and practical courses, sometimes allocate up to five points for midterm and practical test scores based on adherence to the hijab.

A visual arts student in Tehran told IranWire, “For two years now, different methods have been used to suppress students. Some professors have even stated on the first day of class that midterm or practical exam scores will start at 15 or 16 out of 20, with the remaining points dependent on hijab compliance.”

She noted that this approach, particularly pervasive in hands-on and practical courses, has intensified since the start of the new academic year.

Students' attempts to challenge these practices, which contradict Ministry of Science guidelines, have gone unheeded. When students approached the university's academic office, they received similar responses.

The office either directed students to resolve the issue with individual professors or cited the policy that "the allocation of scores throughout the semester depends on the professor's teaching style," effectively sidelining students' academic performance.

Tightened Surveillance and Dress Codes in Dormitories

In Yazd Province, a student reported increased pressure and surveillance in female dormitories, including installing surveillance cameras.

She described restrictions on wearing shorts or makeup and said, “I’m not a local student; I came to Yazd from another city. I expected no mandatory dress code enforcement in an all-female dormitory. However, since the new academic year began, the dormitory supervisor has forbidden wearing shorts and makeup. Last week, two new cameras were installed in the main corridor. We don’t know who monitors them or why they’re there.”

Students in two dormitories have received unofficial warnings that failure to "observe Islamic morals” would result in reports to the university and potential academic repercussions, particularly for those with thesis requirements.

Ali Karami, Secretary of the Islamic Association of Sharif University of Technology, also reported the addition of facial recognition cameras in some university areas, including the entrance of the women’s dormitory.

According to Karami, these cameras were added to "monitor mandatory hijab compliance" and track "students’ entry and exit times."

Academic Incentives for Marriage and Pregnancy

In further interference with students’ personal lives, professors at several universities now offer academic benefits to students who marry or become pregnant during the semester, implementing the Population Growth policy endorsed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

These incentives include "exemptions from class attendance," "up to ten additional points on midterms," "full scores in practical courses," and even "leniency in dissertation and defense stages," primarily for masters and doctoral students.

A student told IranWire, "These professors, who often teach courses critical to students' academic trajectories, sometimes offer up to half the exam points as a 'wedding gift' to those who marry. Additionally, pregnant students are excused from classes and even practical exams, receiving full marks."

Professors reportedly require a marriage certificate or proof of pregnancy to grant these privileges.

A concerning trend is the differential treatment of married or parenting graduate students by some dissertation advisors and defense committee members.

According to information obtained by IranWire, at least five Iranian universities offer special privileges to these students, including "leniency" in the defense process and "support from professors" during the dissertation process.

One student from Islamic Azad University in Hashtgerd, near Tehran, reported that returning students from maternity leave receive assurances of outstanding exam grades upon their return.

Ideology at the Expense of Education

On August 27, in a meeting with President Masoud Pezeshkian and his cabinet, Khamenei urged Health Minister Mohammadreza Zafarghandi to pursue the "Population Growth" initiative personally and warned of the “risk of rapid population aging.”

Enacted in 2021 under President Ebrahim Raisi, the Population Growth Law bans the sale and distribution of contraceptives, halts the free provision of these products at health centers, and criminalizes medical recommendations for contraception. The law also bans sterilization for both men and women.

On October 19, a Guardian Council spokesperson confirmed the approval of the new "Chastity and Hijab" bill, heightening concern about the legal framework backing increased repression, particularly within educational institutions. Amid growing tensions and the government’s regional conflict with Israel, the Islamic Republic has further restricted citizens’ freedoms.

These policies have fundamentally altered the role of Iranian universities, transforming them from centers of learning into instruments for promoting the Islamic lifestyle endorsed by the Supreme Leader. The academic futures of students now hang in the balance, caught between government mandates and ideological control.

Source: HRM, Samira Rahi, October 30, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________

Twitter/X | Instagram | Telegram | Contact Us

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

South Korea ferry disaster: Surviving passengers of Sewol tragedy give evidence in court

Surviving passengers of a South Korean ferry which sunk in April, killing 304 people, are due to give evidence in the trial of its captain and 14 crew members. Students from the Danwon High School in Ansan, 18 miles south of Seoul, will testify with other passengers in a smaller court nearer to their home, rather than the one where the defendants are being seen in Gwangju, in the south of the country. The Sewol ferry set sail on 16 April with 476 passengers and crew on board - more than 300 of which were schoolchildren. They were enroute from the mainland to the island resort of Jeju as part of a school trip, when nearing the end of the journey, the vessel, which was overloaded, also made a sharp turn to the right causing it to capsize. Captain Lee Joon-seok, 68, was caught on rescue footage being one of the first to leave the ship, while many passengers, obeying orders, remained in the cabins. It is thought a delayed evacuation order from the captain did n...

Tennessee | Questions Raised About the Doctor Who Was Overseeing Tony Caruthers’ Execution

Mark Fowler, according to a deposition, had not placed a central line in a patient for more than a decade when he attempted to put one in Carruthers Around 11 a.m. Thursday morning in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, a medical doctor stepped in and attempted to place a central IV line in Tony Carruthers’ chest. By that point, the prison staff had spent some 30 minutes trying unsuccessfully to insert a backup IV line that would allow them to proceed with the lethal injection. According to Carruthers’ attorney Maria DeLiberato, who was in the room, after asking a staff member to attempt inserting a line through Carruthers’ jugular vein, the doctor moved on to the central line, which is identified as the last resort in Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol .

Florida: The Daily Routine of Death Row Inmates

The breakfast carts rattle through the concrete prison at about 5:30 am and as they approach Death Row the first sounds of morning repeat the last sounds of night - remote controlled locks clanging open and clunking closed, electric gates whirring, heavy metal doors crashing shut, voices wailing, klaxons blaring. A maximum security prison has no soft or delicate sounds. At the end of each corridor of death row cells a guard opens a heavy door of steel bars and a prison trusty pushes a breakfast cart inside. The door closes behind him and when it locks a second door opens and admits the trusty to the wing. He steers his cart along the wing stopping at each cell to pass a tray of powdered eggs and lukewarm grits through a small slot on the bars. Food is prepared by prison staff and transported in insulated carts to the cells. The food carts are full of cockroaches, the food is often undercooked or just rotten and is served on Styrofoam plates with a plastic "spork" - fork/spoon...

Arizona executes Leroy McGill

Arizona executes inmate who set couple on fire in 'horrific attack' Arizona has executed Leroy McGill for setting 21-year-old Charles Perez and his 24-year-old girlfriend on fire. Perez died the next day and Perez survived with severe burn injuries. Arizona has executed a death row inmate for setting 2 people on fire more than 20 years ago, killing 1 of them and changing the other's life forever. The state executed Leroy McGill, 63, by lethal injection on Wednesday, May 20, for the 2002 murder of 21-year-old Charles Perez. McGill set Perez and his girlfriend on fire after they accused him of theft, court records say. Perez died of his injuries the next day while his girlfriend survived with severe burns.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

Tennessee fails to execute Tony Carruthers after IV difficulties. State won't try again for a year

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee officials on Thursday called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, after his executioners tried and failed for over an hour to establish an intravenous line. Gov. Bill Lee announced soon afterward that the state would not try again for at least a year. In a written statement, the Tennessee Department of Corrections said medical personnel had quickly established a primary IV line but were unable to find a suitable vein for a backup line as required by the state’s execution protocol. Efforts to insert a central line also failed, and officials called off the execution.

EU GSP+ Reform: Will Brussels Finally Enforce Its Own Conditions on Pakistan?

The EU has tightened the rules governing GSP+ trade preferences, but Pakistan’s record raises a harder question: whether Brussels is prepared to suspend market access when a major beneficiary fails to demonstrate sustained compliance with human rights, labour and governance obligations. The European Union has formally adopted revised rules for its Generalised Scheme of Preferences, strengthening the conditions attached to preferential market access for developing countries. The new framework will apply from 1 January 2027 and is intended to tighten monitoring, widen the list of international conventions, and make suspension of benefits easier in cases of serious violations.

Former Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip goes free on $500k bond

Richard Glossip was released from jail Thursday, May 14, on a $500,000 bond, a major victory for the former death row inmate who has come so close to execution that he has had three last meals. Glossip, 63, is awaiting his third trial in his 1997 murder-for-hire case. He walked out the front door of the Oklahoma County jail, holding hands with his wife, Lea Glossip, as a stiff Oklahoma breeze whipped his hair. "I'm just thankful for my wife and my attorneys," he told reporters. "I'm just happy." His release came hours after Oklahoma County District Judge Natalie Mai set bail in a 13-page order that pointed to issues with the key witness against him.

New Mississippi billboard warns criminals: ‘Firing squad is legal’

DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — A billboard standing on Interstate 55 southbound as you cross the Tennessee state line and enter Mississippi from Memphis is sending a grim message to those coming into the state. DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton recently announced the new billboard campaign, which features the sign reading, “WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI. WHERE THE FIRING SQUAD IS LEGAL. THINK TWICE.” It references Mississippi’s law permitting execution by firing squad under certain circumstances for inmates sentenced to death. Barton says this campaign is aimed at deterring violent crime and sends a direct message to criminals entering Mississippi.

Florida executes Richard Knight

Man convicted of killing a woman and her 4-year-old daughter is executed in Florida A Florida man convicted of fatally stabbing his cousin’s girlfriend and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter was put to death Thursday evening, becoming the 7th person executed by the state this year. Richard Knight, 47, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Knight was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the June 2002 killings of Odessia Stephens and her daughter, Hanessia Mullings. The curtain of the death chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6:00 p.m. execution time. Knight was already strapped down with his arms extended and an IV line in place.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog