Category World News

Tehran, Iran – In a first, Iranian authorities have dispersed a demonstration calling for stricter implementation of the country’s dress code rules.

On Friday evening, after state-organised Quds Day rallies in support of the Palestinian cause ended, police dispersed dozens who had been camping out in front of the parliament for weeks.

The demonstrators, mostly women clad in full-body black chadors, had been there for nearly 50 days to decry what they view as loose enforcement of mandatory hijab, which signifies the abandonment of “Islamic values” to them.

Women and men in Iran are bound by a law passed shortly after the country’s 1979 revolution to adhere to strict dress codes – including a veil covering hair for women – on pain of prison, flogging, or financial penalties.

Why the fight over hijab?

For decades, Iranian authorities have enforced the mandatory hijab through patrols by police and security forces.

The country’s so-called “morality police”, known as “Gasht-e Ershad” or Islamic guidance patrol, would round up people on the streets for “undermining public decency” and put them in vans to be “re-educated” at designated centres or be punished through the courts.

That is what happened to 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in September 2022, who was arrested in Tehran for alleged non-compliance with hijab laws while out with her family.

She died in police custody, her death triggering nationwide protests for months. Hundreds of protesters and dozens of security forces were killed in the unrest, with authorities saying the United States, Israel, and other rivals were behind the “riots”.

The hijab has since become an increasingly hot-button topic.

Iranian authorities announced they would suspend the morality police in late 2022, but the force’s white vans soon made a comeback to the streets of Tehran and other major cities.

Many more women and men have been arrested or had cases opened against them for dress code-related offences. This has ranged from average Iranians on the streets to journalists and veteran actresses who appeared unveiled in public, and businesses or even taxi drivers whose customers were deemed to be violating the law.

Controversy over hijab bill

Faced with increasing hijab-related “crimes”, especially in Tehran, where many women go out without a headscarf, Iranian authorities have been trying to implement new legislation that would boost their authority to crack down on offenders.

A new hijab bill that defines heavy punishments, especially ramped-up financial penalties, was passed by Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament in September 2023, under the administration of late President Ebrahim Raisi.

It was then discussed in top state bodies many times, before finally being backed in September 2024 by the Guardian Council, the 12-member constitutional watchdog that has to greenlight legislation before it can be implemented.

But President Masoud Pezeshkian, who has pledged to pursue mandatory hijab through non-confrontational methods like “education”, said his government would be incapable of enforcing the “impractical” bill.

After much speculation, conservative parliament chief and former military commander Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf finally confirmed in March that the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) had ordered the bill’s implementation halted.

The council agreed that the bill “could cause tensions in today’s society” in the aftermath of the 2022-23 protests, Ghalibaf told state media, adding that the government and parliament are working on finding ways of enforcing it in the future.

In the meantime, as authorities battle a budget crunch under sanctions pressure from United States President Donald Trump, they have launched new efforts to crack down on hijab offences.

They have set up cameras in public spaces to identify and punish unveiled women, allowed people to report others – and their vehicles, which could be impounded – for hijab offences without providing evidence, and imposed heavy fines or shuttered violating businesses.

Why confront pro-hijab voices?

The dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of women demonstrating in front of the parliament have been making headlines for weeks.

Some local media called them “super-revolutionaries” due to their religious zeal, and they have garnered praise and support from ultraconservative factions within the Iranian establishment.

They, along with several hardline legislators in parliament, have been accusing the parliament chief and the president of complacency over the enforcement of the hijab bill.

They have described mandatory hijab as a tenet of Iran’s theocratic establishment that “enemies” wish to trample.

But Tehran Governor Hossein Khosh-Eghbal said on Saturday that the demonstrations were “illegal” and warned that police would disperse any further protests held without permits.

He did not mention why the demonstrations were tolerated for weeks, or comment on claims, including by conservative legislator Javad Nikbin, that the demonstrators were paid to be there and had been bused in.

Police confirmed that many of the women had travelled from the holy Shia city of Qom, some 150km (90 miles) south of Tehran.

They also broadcast a short video via state media that showed their officers trying to reason with the shouting protesters and explain why they must disperse by law before taking action.

In a viral video filmed by one of the protesters and circulated online, the woman behind the camera can be heard screaming and saying 400 male and female officers descended on them, put them in vans and dropped them in different parts of Tehran to disperse them.

The woman showed another chador-clad woman lying on the ground with a bloody face, claiming demonstrators were beaten.

The state-run Fars news agency reported that police used “physical means” to end the protests and left demonstrators on the outskirts of the city in the middle of the night.

Police said the video was “staged” in an attempt to influence public sentiment, and that the wounds were self-inflicted.

Politicians with the Paydari (Steadfastness) Front, the ultraconservative faction whose presidential candidate Saeed Jalili was defeated in elections last year, have been lambasting the decision.

The smell of decaying bodies permeates the streets of Myanmar’s second-largest city as volunteers work frantically by hand to clear rubble in the hope of finding people still alive, two days after a massive earthquake killed more than 1, 600 people and left countless others buried.

The magnitude 7.7 quake hit midday on Friday with an epicentre near Mandalay, bringing down scores of buildings and damaging other infrastructure like the city’s airport.

Relief efforts have been hampered by buckled roads, downed bridges, unreliable communications and the challenges of operating in a country amid a civil war.

The search for survivors has been primarily conducted by locals without the aid of heavy equipment, moving rubble by hand and with shovels in 41C (106F) heat, with only the occasional tracked excavator to be seen.

Many of Mandalay’s 1.5 million people spent the night sleeping on the streets, either left homeless by the quake, which also shook neighbouring Thailand and killed at least 17 people there, or worried that the continuing aftershocks might cause structures left unstable to collapse.

So far, 1, 644 people have been reported killed in Myanmar and 3, 408 missing, but many areas have not yet been reached, and many rescue efforts so far have been undertaken by people working by hand to try to clear rubble, said Cara Bragg, the Yangon-based manager of Catholic Relief Services, an international humanitarian agency, in Myanmar.

The quake rocked much of neighbouring Thailand, bringing down a high-rise building under construction in Bangkok, some 1, 300km (800 miles) away from the epicentre.

Beirut, Lebanon – Lebanon’s council of ministers has elected Karim Souaid as central bank governor – a candidate backed by the country’s bank lobby and a businessman who many say is emblematic of the malaise Lebanon is suffering.

Just out of a brutal war with Israel, Lebanon is in dire need of reconstruction and recovery money. Since 2019, Lebanon has suffered through one of modern history’s worst economic crises. State services have been battered, including the electricity sector, leaving those who can afford the cost to rely on private generators.

The World Bank estimates $11bn is needed for the job, and the next governor is crucial for unlocking funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will encourage more support from the international community.

On Wednesday, Lebanese media reports marked Souaid, the founder of Bahrain-based private investment firm Growthgate Partners, as the frontrunner.

Sources told Al Jazeera that while the IMF did not comment on candidates, Souaid’s proposed policies do not match the required reforms.

‘ Another Riad Salame ‘

Two camps had emerged in response to Souaid’s candidacy.

On one side were the banks, banking lobby, most of the significant traditional parties – including ideological adversaries like Hezbollah and the Lebanese forces – and President Joseph Aoun, whose economic adviser, Varouj Nerguizian, is a board member of Souaid’s investment firm.

On the other side were some reformist ministers, independent MPs, reform-minded NGOs, and sceptics, including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

After Souaid was voted in, Salam delivered a speech admitting he and other ministers had reservations about the new appointment.

“Any governor must abide by the financial policy of our reformist government as expressed by the ministerial statement]that includes] a new programme with the International Monetary Fund, restructuring banks, and devising a complete plan according to the best international standards to preserve depositors ‘ rights”, Salam said.

Souaid has yet to comment on what his plan for the central bank would be.

But those opposed to Souaid say he is too close to power and his policies overwhelmingly favour the banking lobby. Former Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s son Maher is also a board member of Souaid’s investment firm.

“They’re trying to bring in another Riad Salameh”, said Mohammad Farida, economic adviser for the Depositors Union, an NGO that argues that banks and not depositors should be held accountable for the 2019 financial crisis.

Salameh is the former central bank governor who was arrested in September for financial crimes in Lebanon and is the subject of numerous financial investigations in five different European countries.

Every minister will be ‘ held accountable ‘

Lebanon is entering the sixth year of a devastating economic crisis and badly needs relief funds from the IMF, which has laid out several reforms Lebanon needs to apply to receive those funds.

A parallel battle for accountability for the tens of billions in economic losses has been at an impasse for five years as the political class, backed by the banking lobby, focused on scuttling any effort at passing reforms the IMF deems critical to unlock $3bn in relief funds.

The fight essentially comes down to who should bear responsibility for the 2019 economic collapse and bear the losses.

The pro-banker side believes the state is primarily responsible for the collapse after defaulting on eurobonds. To recover depositors ‘ money, they say, the state should pay the banks back through actions like selling off state assets. This is the side supporting Souaid.

Souaid’s ideas for the state are thought to be outlined in a 2023 paper, financed by his investment firm, that recommends haircuts of up to 90 percent, which would fall on depositors.

Critics say this would allow bankers and the politicians who backed and profited from them to escape accountability.

“It would basically incentivise them to take the same behaviour]that caused the economic and banking crisis] with the same risks”, Walid Marrouch, an economics professor at the Lebanese American University, said.

The pro-reform side, which includes the Depositors Union, says piling the losses on the state will bankrupt it and hurt citizens who did nothing wrong, so the commercial banks should foot the losses to repay depositors.

These reforms would hit bank owners the hardest, forcing some banks to merge or close entirely.

At an emergency news conference called by the Depositors ‘ Union on Wednesday to oppose Souaid’s selection, Halime Kaakour, one of 13 Lebanese MPs elected in 2022 on a post-revolution sentiment demanding reform, stated: “We will hold each minister accountable who nominates a central bank governor that will burden the state with $76bn in losses”.

The $76bn figure is an estimate, as the exact figure is unknown. During the crisis, many depositors withdrew their money while the Lebanese lira was plummeting, while some of the country’s wealthiest moved their money abroad.

‘ It’s a mafia ‘

In 2020, the Hassan Diab government proposed a solution that experts told Al Jazeera would have met the IMF’s specifications. But the solution was derailed by political deadlock, and depositors suffered.

As banks locked down and citizens were unable to withdraw their money, the exchange rate devalued by more than 95 percent. Before the crisis, the lira stood at 1, 500 to the US dollar – today, $1 is equal to 89, 000 lira.

With many of the country’s former middle class thrust into poverty, some citizens were forced to hold up banks to withdraw their money.

After the vast destruction caused by Israel’s latest war on Lebanon, the need for reconstruction money is increasingly pressing. As this pressure increased, so too did the battle over who would lead Lebanon’s central bank since this figure will deeply affect Lebanon’s economic and banking agenda over the coming years.

The banks ‘ side, which supports Souaid, has been spearheaded by Antoun Sehnaoui, the chairman of the board of the SGBL Group.

Sehnaoui also funds Lebanese media outlets and is believed to be close to many politicians. He is widely believed to back the Soldiers of God (Jnoud el-Rab), a gang of men who quote Christian scripture and gained notoriety for targeting Lebanon’s LGBTQ community with violence.

In the run-up to the vote for central bank governor, media outlets Megaphone and Daraj reported that Sehnaoui had filed lawsuits against them.

The deeply rooted influence bankers like Sehnaoui have over the Lebanese system is largely why the state struggles to serve its citizens, critics say.

“It’s a mafia and]the bankers] are the oligarchs”, Fouad Debs, a lawyer and member of the Depositors Union, told Al Jazeera.

Debs said Souaid’s confirmation was a setback for a just solution to Lebanon’s economic crisis and it will deeply affect depositors and the state.

“The appointment of Souaid is disastrous”, he said, adding that the state is likely to take on the tens of billions of dollars in debt instead of the banks.

Critics like Debs say, because many politicians are funded by bankers or are shareholders in banks themselves, they try to bring Lebanon’s economic policy in line with the banks ‘ interests even if it contradicts the public interest.

For years, the banks have benefitted from banking secrecy laws that reformists and the IMF say need to change.

Opponents to the new central bank governor will now push to try and come up with a recovery plan they feel is fair to depositors, but it will be an uphill battle after Souaid’s appointment.

“They are turning the country into a private company for maybe a few thousand individuals who will literally have control over most of the wealth in the country”, Debs said.