Iranian lawmaker calls female protesters ‘prostitutes’ for removing headscarves
- Mahmoud Nabavian, a hard-line legislator from Tehran, suggested removing the hijab, or headscarf, was akin to being naked in public to attract male attention
- Iranian women have removed their headscarves in protest or cut their hair in public to show solidarity with the demonstrators following the death of Mahsa Amini
A hard-line Iranian lawmaker on Tuesday slammed female protesters who have taken off mandatory headscarves as prostitutes, doubling down on the government stance amid the dramatic demonstrations following the death of a 22-year-old woman detained by the country’s morality police.
The harsh language by Mahmoud Nabavian, a legislator from Tehran, was in sharp contrast to the appeal by a top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamadani, who on Sunday urged the government to listen to the people’s demands.
The fate of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman who died in custody after being detained by the morality police – because her headscarf was allegedly too loose – has ignited unrest across Iran. Protests have spread to at least 46 cities, including the capital of Tehran, towns and villages with scenes of violence and street clashes with security forces unseen for years in Iran.
Solidarity protests have also erupted in Europe, the United States and in parts of the Middle East. In a predominantly Kurdish city in Syria, thousands of women took to the streets Monday, holding posters with Amini’s photo.
Across Iran, ordinary women and public figures, including Iranian actresses, have removed their headscarves in protest or cut their hair in public to show solidarity with the demonstrators.
