Women in cartoons must be veiled

TEHERAN – Supreme Leader Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently issued a new fatwa stating that women in cartoons and animated films should wear the headscarf. The fatwa was first reported by the local media, Tasnim.

“Is the hijab [jilbab] need for a character in an animated film (a three-dimensional painting that comes from the artist’s mind) ?, ”Khamenei said when asked by an questioner on the Telegram channel, which the news site translated IranWire and launched Al Arabiya, Monday (22/2/2021).

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“Although wearing the hijab in such a hypothetical situation is not necessary, observing the hijab in animation is necessary because of the consequences of not wearing the headscarf,” Khamenei said in his reply.

Wearing the headscarf and covering all parts of the body became mandatory for women in Iran immediately after the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

Women who leave part of their hair uncovered in public are often targets of Iran’s moral police, known as the Gasht-e Ershad.

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In recent years, women in Iran have been harassed by both police and men on the streets for wearing the headscarf “incorrectly”. Last October, a young woman was arrested in central Iran on charges of “insulting the Islamic hijab” after a video showed her cycling without the veil.

In March last year, a video showing a man assaulting a woman in Iran went viral and sparked outrage on social media. The woman was attacked for the “bad hijab”.

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