Iran set to freeze bank accounts of women who refuse to wear a hijab
A member of the Iranian parliament has told local media the government plans to impose new punishments on women who do not wear a hijab in public, with individuals who refuse to comply after two warnings possibly having their bank accounts frozen.
Hossein Jalali, a member of the Cultural Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, told Iranian media on Dec. 6 that “unveiled persons” would be sent an SMS urging them to respect the law and wear a hijab before entering a “warning phase” and finally having their bank account potentially frozen.
Similar actions taken by governments in the past have seen protestors and dissidents turn to cryptocurrencies to continue accessing financial instruments.
Jalali did not detail what the “warning stage” entailed, he suggested there should not be “morality police" enforcing compliance with the law and other key figures have noted cameras may be used in combination with artificial intelligence to identify offenders.
Ongoing protests have occurred in Iran since Sep. 17, when an Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini was arrested by the morality police for not wearing a hijab and died in suspicious circumstances at a hospital in Tehran.
Many women are now setting fire to their hijab or refusing to wear them amidst a broader push to force the government to back down on its compulsory hijab requirements.
The threat to freeze the bank accounts of protestors parallels events in Canada earlier this year where the country's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 15 enabling regulators to freeze the bank accounts of members partaking in the "Freedom Convoy" protests
Some convoy protestors turned to crypto as a way to fund the movement after the fundraising platform GoFundMe
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