Iranian Supreme Leader Decrees All Female Cartoon Characters Must Wear Hijab

Iranian state-run news agency Tasnim reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa requiring female cartoon characters to wear hijab, the veil that covers the head and chest of Muslim women. The announcement sparked criticism in the country, which is going through a serious economic and social crisis, made worse by the coronavirus, which joins other angry voices because in January the Iranian Supreme Leader banned the importation of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines , Moderna and AstraZeneca.

The fatwa or fatwa, a legal opinion reserved for a few specialists in religious law, which works like social jurisprudence, follows a question posed to Khamenei on Telegram: “Is it necessary for characters in animation works to comply with the compulsory use of the hijab?”

The Ayatollah responded, quoted by IranWire: “Although wearing the hijab in a hypothetical situation like this is not mandatory in itself, respect for the hijab in animation is required because of the consequences of not wearing a hijab ”.

These consequences are extremely serious: they can lead to long periods of imprisonment, as observed in a 2020 case, the Jerusalem Post recalled. Three Iranian women were sentenced to 16 years for disobeying the Islamic dress code, an etiquette that includes the hijab as well as long clothing that at least covers the torso and legs.

Since the Islamic revolution in Iran four decades ago, women have been forced to cover their hair as a sign of modesty. Those who do not can be reprimanded in public, fined or detained; They are often the target of attacks by Gasht-e Ershad, a security service that enforces religious norms, dubbed the “Moral police”.

Although no law requires Iranian women to wear the hijab, since the 1979 revolution and the establishment of a theocratic state religious authorities establish dress codes for the population, and women are the most restricted. While in other countries companies have displayed “No mask, no service” posters due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in Iran since the 1980s they have displayed advertisements “Entry without a hijab is prohibited.”

The British Daily Mail newspaper quoted Iranian political activists who condemned Khamenei’s fatwa as “toxic” and claimed that the authorities are “obsessed with the hair of every woman”. The idea that Iranian girls could grow up influenced by cartoons to the point of defying religious etiquette has been widely debated on social media.

Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad wrote on Twitter: “This is no joke! The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced that even women in animation works should wear the hijab. Even female versions of insects, like bees, must wear a hijab! “

Iranian academic Arash Azizi also criticized the decision: “In case you think Grand Ayatollah Khamenei was not focusing on central issues of interest to Iran and the Iranians,” he added on a similar tone. An Egyptian teacher also participated: “The absurdity of this is beyond my ability to comprehend,” she wrote. “Is this what Islam has become?”

In the case of Iran, this religious order joins a strict censorship that already dominates the country’s film industry: physical interaction between men and women is not accepted and certain subjects cannot be discussed; films or scenes considered immoral or offensive to Islamism are prohibited. Some ultra-religious politicians have called for there to be no more foreign cinema in the country, except that the female characters wear the hijab.

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