Iranian women 'ready to pay the price' for defying hijab rules - BBC News

Three women describe how they flout headscarf laws ahead of the first polls since nationwide protests.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated Topics2022 Iran protestsImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Iranians took to the streets across the country following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022By Caroline HawleyDiplomatic correspondentAzad, Donya and Bahareh don't know each other.

But the three women - whose names we've changed for their own safety - share a fierce determination to resist Iran's theocratic government, and the dress codes it has imposed on women and girls for 45 years.

So, every day, they head out of their homes in the capital Tehran - without covering their hair - despite the potential risks.

"It's very scary," 20-year-old music student Donya tells me over an encrypted app. "Because they can arrest you any minute and fine you. Or torture you with lashes. The usual penalty if you're arrested is 74 lashes."

Last month, a 33-year old Kurdish-Iranian activist, Roya Heshmati, made public that she'd been given 74 lashes after posting a photograph of herself unveiled.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68402016

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