How Hijab Was Forced on Iranian Women in 1979

As an Iranian immigrant, I hardly ever talk about my story. After all, it’s been about 42 years since I left Iran. But I am going to cross that boundary today and share an old memory here because, considering the current affairs, I feel compelled to do my part in creating awareness.

This is about HOW IRAN IMPOSED HIJAB ON OUR SECULAR SOCIETY in the late 1970s, as I remember it.

When I left Iran, I was still a teenager. It was about a couple of weeks before they took over the American hostages. By the time that happened, I was already in Belgium.

My Iran was the most secular country in the region and we lived life with FREEDOM. However, I remember how the Islamic Revolution changed all that. I left Iran before Hijab was enforced as law. So, I do recall that the crackdown on women had already started to enforce the hijab laws.

I will never forget the typical news headlines during the last few weeks or months I was in Iran, sometime between the spring and summer of 1978 or 1979. In those days, the news recounted how the new government’s forces were killing girls on the street to scare other women into wearing the hijab. And the scare tactic was as follows:

Two guys riding a motorcycle would look for female targets on the streets. The one riding in the back held a poisoned (Gillette-type) blade in his right hand. The two would ride through the wide sidewalks of the main streets and they would slow down as they approached women who were not covered up or especially those who were wearing short sleeves or short skirts, etc. The plan was for the motorcycle to reduce speed to give the guy in the back enough time to quickly slash his poisoned blade on the target woman’s arm cutting her skin. And the poison would kill the girl. I don’t know what the name of the poison was. As a teenager, I was living in constant fear. But I was hopeful because I knew my family was trying to leave.

Millions of us Iranians left that old land and started new lives elsewhere. I will never forget the story about the motorcyclists and their poisoned blades. These are things I hardly ever share. But now is the time to share how women were forced into this mandatory mess. It is now our responsibility to speak up and let others know how these things started.

Today, almost half a century later, the fight is still on. Please don’t look the other way and be a voice for the oppressed Iranian women.