Friday 7th March 2014, Emma Batha - LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - After Iranian film actress Marzieh Vafamehr appeared with her head uncovered in My Tehran for Sale, an Australian film critical of her home country, she was sentenced to three months in jail and a hefty fine.
When Iran banned lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh from flying to Italy to receive a human rights prize, she sent a video-taped acceptance speech and was promptly fined for not wearing a hijab in the recording.
The actress and lawyer are among hundreds of thousands of girls and women who have fallen foul of Iran’s strict dress code. More than 30,000 have been arrested over the last decade for violating the law, according to a report published on Friday which calls for an end to forced hijab. Some of those detained were as young as 12 years old.
