Washington Free beacon cited a statement of the National Council of Resistance of Iran as saying that Iranian women who brave to oppose the strict mullahs’ interpretation of Islamic laws are doused with acid. It said more than 1,000 Iranians took to the streets across Iran early Wednesday to protest a rash of “acid attacks” against women, according to Iranian opposition members and video of the mass demonstrations. Protests against increased frequency of these acid attacks erupted outside Iran’s Justice Ministry in Isfahan and in other Iranian cities, with anti-regime protestors demanding that the extremist perpetrators of these attacks be brought to justice.
“Death to acid attackers,” protestors chanted in Farsi, according to video of the protests in Isfahan. “Guns, tanks, cannot be used to [force use of] the veil, we will sit here until we get an answer. State Security Forces, where are the eyes of our sisters?”
Acid attacks against women have sharply risen in recent weeks in Isfahan and other cities. Men on motorcycles have been driving up to women they deem to be immodestly dressed and dousing them with sulphuric acid, which leaves severe and disfiguring burns on the skin.
“The Mullahs’ regime that is fearful of mounting popular discontent, especially that of women and the youth, is attempting to prevent the explosion of their wrath through these brutalities and intimidation,” Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said in a recent statement on the attacks. The NCRI says the attacks are not random and have been coordinated by Iranian regime officials.
The protestors demanded immediate justice for the women attacked and pressured Iranian authorities to release the identities of those implicated in the attacks, something the regime has thus far refused to do.
Iranian clerics have been blamed for fanning the extremist flame in various sermons condemning women who dress immodestly.
“Confronting mal-veiling and lovers of the West and Western culture is the duty of the State Security Forces,” Cleric Alam al-Hoda was quoted as saying in one recent Friday sermon. “The regime’s power and maintaining Sharia and religious codes is the responsibility of security forces and the commander of this force is Khamenei and we should act according to our commander’s orders.”
“Mal-veiling” is the term used by Iranian religious authorities to describe when women wear clothing which does not satisfy their standards.
Cleric Movahedi Kermani also expressed similar views in June.
“Emergence of mal-veiled women in the country is a grimace to the system… the authorities should not acquiesce to this… Mal-veiling is not a private sin that nobody should care about … If a sin manifests itself, it then involves everyone and everyone is sinful,” Kermani was quoted as saying. “Therefore, necessary provisions should be adopted to eradicate the sin.”
