In Iran, wearing of hijab by women in public spaces is mandatory. According to the “Chastity and Hijab” bill enacted in 2023, women who defy dress codes risk long prison sentences, steep fines, and even death sentence for repeated violations. The regime uses drones, surveillance apps and licensed informants to monitor what women wear in public.
Only recently, the Iranian regime announced it would deploy 80,000 personnel to enforce dress codes because there has been a spike in the number of women appearing in public without hijab in the capital Tehran.
While ordinary women in Iran face harsh punishment for violating dress code, a video has become suddenly viral on internet and this has sparked a furore across Iran.
The video is of the daughter of Iran’s former Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani, a top political advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The wedding, according to Iran International, took place in April last year at the Espinas Palace Hotel in Tehran.
While other female guests wore hijabs at the wedding, Shamkhani’s daughter entered the banquet hall, wearing a sleeveless, deep-necked and strapless Western-style wedding gown and a thin veil over her hair.
The video was leaked after more than a year and the source still remains unclear. It lays bare the hypocrisy and double standards being applied by the present regime in Iran.
On one hand, Islamic clerics punish women in the name of Shariat, force women to accept ‘purdah’ system, and on the other hand, their leaders forget hijab and veil at the weddings of their daughters.
This video reminds one about 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in custody in 2022 after she was arrested for violating hijab law. There were nationwide demonstrations by women in Iran, but the Revolutionary Guards and moral police, working under Ali Khamenei crushed these protests brutally.
At that time, Ali Shamkhani said, police repression will continue so long as these women protesters do not return home. He had then said that Islamic laws will be implemented at all costs.
Who is Ali Shamkhani?
He is a powerful figure in Iran, he was a Rear Admiral of Iran Navy, and was the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Shamkhani was the chief negotiator at the nuclear deal talks with United States and is a top political advisor of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ali Shamkhani escaped the Israeli air strikes on Tehran on June 13 and reports of his death were proved baseless. His son is connected with Iran’s oil and shipping industry and he faces several corruption charges, but because of his closeness to Khamenei, no action was ever taken.
Shamkhani says this viral video is a foreign conspiracy to defame him. A former minister of Iran, Ezzatollah Zarghami claimed that the wedding incident was a private gathering of women only and the scene in which the bride’s father is shown placing her hand on the groom’s, is part of Islamic custom.
Let me make it clear. Nobody has any problem with Shamkhani’s daughter wearing a strapless gown or his wife wearing a backless dress. They have the right to wear the attire of their choice. It’s their life and their choice.
The questions that are being raised now in Iran is: On one hand, women not wearing hijab are flogged in public, thrown into jail, Iran’s moral police torture such girls even leading to their death, and on the other hand, the daughter of a top political figure wears strapless gown to her wedding.
Is the Chastity and Hijab law applicable only for ordinary women? Are the curbs on freedom of women only for the ordinary folks? Do powerful figures have a separate law in Iran?
This wedding video of Shamkhani’s daughter clearly exposes hypocritic double standards in the name of hijab.

A fresh breath of liberty in Saudi Arabia

There is good news from Saudi Arabia. It has abolished its 50-year-old ‘Kafala’ labour sponsorship system. This will give freedom to nearly 13 million migrant workers. Most of them are from South Asian countries including India.
As part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reforms, migrant workers will now get more autonomy under a contract-based job model.
They can now switch jobs without taking approval from their employers, leave Saudi Arabia without an exit visa or sponsor’s consent, and can approach labour courts to report violations of law. Most of the workers are employed in construction, domestic work and tourism industry.
These reforms are part of the plan to attract more foreign talent to Saudi Arabia. Till now, employers used to confiscate passports of migrant workers, delay payment of wages and restrict their movement.
The Kafala system was introduced in the 1950s in Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, to regulate foreign migrant workers. Under this system, a migrant worker’s legal residency and employment rights were tied completely to a local sponsor, known as the “kafeel,” usually the employer.
There are many villages around Lucknow, Moradabad, Saharanpur and Mewat region, where hundreds of youths migrated to Saudi Arabia in search of jobs and are engaged in bonded labour. Many of them are languishing in jails on false charges.
Nearly 27 lakh Indians work in Saudi Arabia and the abolition of Kafala system will give them a fresh air of freedom. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is trying to diversify his nation’s economy. Till now, the economy was based on earnings from oil, but now his regime is promoting other industries by attracting foreign investment, foreign professionals and skilled labourers.
The new system will help both migrant workers and Saudi government trying to attract foreign talent.
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