Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa on Monday stating that women in cartoons and animated features must be depicted wearing a hijab, according to the country’s Tasnim news agency. Tasnim reported that Khamenei answered a question posed by the news agency asking if observing compulsory hijab is necessary for characters in animated features.
A fatwa is a declaration or ruling on a point of Islamic law, which is not legally binding but is given by a recognised higher authority. However, the latest move by the Iranian leader has triggered massive opposition as activists condemned, slammed the move. One of the activists have condemned the move as toxic adding the ones who are in power are ‘obsessed with the hair of female anything’. Khamenei’s remarks unleashed severe criticism against him including Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad who mocked the Supre Leader. Taking to Twitter, she wrote, “This isn’t a joke! The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran has announced women even in animations should wear hijab. Even female insects like bees have their hijabs on!”
Under Islamic law in force in Iran since the 1979 revolution, women must wear a hijab that covers the head and neck, thus concealing their hair. Violators are publicly admonished, fined or even arrested, often targeted by Iran’s ‘morality police’, also known as the “Gasht-e Ershad.”
