Jun 24, 2014

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli was summoned to parliament to answer questions about why more measures have not been taken to prevent women from wearing leggings in public. In the open session, members of parliament were shown pictures of women in leggings, called “support” in Iran. The elastic, skin-tight garments, typically worn by women who loosely observe Iran’s modesty and hijab laws, have irked some religious conservatives.

Parliament members Ali Motahhari and Mousavi Largani summoned Rahmani Fazli today, June 24, to answer two questions:

Why has he been indifferent toward leggings-clad women in Tehran and other cities? Why has he been lax in implementing the law to expand the culture of modesty and hijab use, and why has the small budget to enforce this law been eliminated?

Rahmani Fazli said that the Interior Ministry is only one of the agencies responsible for the implementation of the modesty and hijab law, adding, “All of the executive agencies have specified responsibilities with respect to modesty and hijab," and "In these instructions, many problems can be seen.”

“I have to be answerable for the last six months, not the last eight years since this law was passed,” Rahmani Fazli continued. He said that his ministry has been “at least five times” more active in the implementation of this law than the previous one. He added, “We have to accept that solving this issue is not possible in the short term.”

Rahmani Fazli also said that money had been allocated in this year’s budget for the modesty and hijab law, to create nongovernmental organizations to promote the hijab and committees to create jobs in women’s clothing. He added that the budget was allocated for the supervision of clothing in department stores, airports and student dormitories.