Thousands Protest Acid Attacks on Women

October 23, 2014
            Men riding on motorcycles splashed acid on at least four women in Isfahan, allegedly targeting them for being improperly veiled. Accounts on social media suggested that there may have been as many as a dozen victims, and police arrested four people in relation to the attacks. The incidents sparked protests on October 22, when 2,000 people gathered outside the judiciary in Isfahan to demand that authorities end violence against women.
            Women in Iran are legally required to dress modestly and wear hijabs to cover their hair and neck. But in recent years, many women have pushed the limits of these regulations and worn veils with their hair partially uncovered. Hardliners in Iran have been attempting to pass legislation that would protect citizens trying to enforce the dress code, but Rouhani and his allies have opposed these measures.
            Officials and activists have condemned the recent attacks, and Iranian member of parliament Ahmad Shouhani stated that “any improper veiling should be punished by law, not individually.” But other officials have noted that police have not yet officially linked the attacks to improper veiling, and denied that Iran’s dress code was a contributing factor. The government has cracked down on media coverage of the attacks, and four journalists were arrested on October 27 from the Iranian Students' News Agency, which was reportedly the first to connect the attacks with improper veiling. One of them, Arya Jaffari, remains in custody. 129 journalists have signed a letter demanding his release.
            The following are quotes from officials and tweets about the attacks and protests.
 
President Hassan Rouhani
 
            “Rue the day some lead our society down the path to insecurity, sow discord and cause rifts, all under the flag of Islam…We should not see vice as manifested only in bad hijab and overlook lies, corruption, slander, and bribery.”
            October 22, 2014, according to Bloomberg
 
            “The sacred call to virtue is not the right of a select group of people, a handful taking the moral high ground and acting as guardians.”
            October 22, 2014 according to The New York Times
 
             “The issue was an inhumane event, incompatible with any principles, and is the most heinous act that an evil person can commit in the society.”
            Oct. 27, 2014 according to Press TV
 
 

Vice President for Women’s Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi

            “There should not have been so much violence towards women in Iran...If we want women to flourish in society we must first protect them.”
            October 21, 2014 according to NBC News
 
Iranian member of parliament Ahmad Shouhani
 
            "Any improper veiling should be punished by law, not individually."
             October 20, 2014 according to the BBC
 
Deputy Interior Minister Morteza Mirbagheri
 
            “The acid attacks in Isfahan were not serial crimes.” [In response to assertions that attacks were linked to the women's attire]
             “We have arrested three to four suspects.”
             October 20, 2014 according to The Guardian
 
Member of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee Abbas-Ali Mansouri
 
            “Foreign and Zionist intelligence agencies,” were aiding those carrying out the attacks in order to distort Islam’s image worldwide.
            October 20, 2014 according to The Guardian
 
Cleric Hojatoleslam Mohammad Taghi Rahbar
 
            “Such an act under any pretext is reprehensible.”
            “Even if a woman goes out into the street in the worst way, no one has the right to do such a thing.”
            October 22, 2014 according to Al-Arabiya

Human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh
 
            "Dispatching unidentified and untrained individuals to promote virtue among citizens is completely against the law, legal principles, and legal rationale, and is a menace to the citizens which must be stopped right here."
            "I hope the horrific incidents in Isfahan serve as alarm bells for the officials, and for this Plan to be eliminated...The officials must think to themselves whether their own daughters, wives, and sisters would match the principles of [those who consider themselves] 'preventers of vice,' and if not, should they be forced to pay this high price?"
            October 22, 2014, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Head of the Basij Paramilitary Force General Mohammad Reza Naghdi
 
            “Today we are seeing the foreign media network trying to link this crime to promotion of virtue and prevention of vice.”
            October 23, 2014 according to Time
 
            “Immediately, foreign media took action and with similar headlines tried to associate the attacks with 'enjoining good and forbidding wrong.'”
            “Why did this attack happen at the same time parliament introduced [the bill on] 'enjoining good and forbidding wrong?'”
            “We can say with certainty that associating this evil and forbidden act with 'enjoining good and forbidding wrong' was a calculated act of agents of foreign media.”
            Oct. 30, 2014, according to the press
 
Former Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi
 
            “Unfortunately, when the law for 'enjoining good and forbidding wrong' was taken to parliament, we witnessed an event such as acid attacks and with precision, it came out in the media of the enemy.”
            “Investigating the behind-the-scenes points of this situation show that it was a planned conspiracy by foreign agents in order to confront 'enjoining good and forbidding wrong.”
            Oct. 30, 2014, according to the press
 
Senior Iranian cleric Kazem Seddiqi
 
            “Some people are trying to create the impression that the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice is to disrupt public security.”
            “[Acid attacks are] a plot to overshadow the legislation on promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, which is a religious obligation.”
            Oct. 31, 2014, according to the press