Iranian president’s wife: Prison time for hijab law violations is ‘out of respect for women’

The spouse of the president of Iran defended a law handed this week designed to impose harsher sentences on ladies who don’t put on hijabs in public, evaluating the principles to “dress codes everywhere” in an interview with ABC’s “This Week.”

You can see Martha Raddatz’s complete interview with Jamileh Alamolhoda on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday at 9 a.m. EDT.

Raddatz requested Alamolhoda concerning the topic, however the Iranian president’s spouse did indirectly resolution when requested about what the punishment for noncompliance must be.

“What do you think should happen to women who choose not to wear a hijab?” Raddatz requested.

“It is out of respect for women,” Alamolhoda mentioned. “It is natural in any country. There may be differences of opinion and viewpoints about dress codes. It comes back to their tastes, how they choose to live their lives and their social rights.”

Alamolhoda drew comparisons between Iranian ladies dealing with a decade in jail for refusing to put on the non secular image and place of work get dressed codes.

“You have dress codes everywhere, even here in university environments, in schools and everywhere else. And I need to tell you that hijab was a tradition, was a religiously mandated tradition, accepted widely. And now for years, it has been turned into a law. And breaking of the law, trampling upon any laws, just like in any country, comes with its own set of punishments,” she mentioned.

“What do you think the punishment should be?” Raddatz pressed additional. “Because there are women who believe it is repressive. While they respect those who choose to wear the hijab, they don’t want to be forced to wear the hijab. What do you think the punishment should be?”

“I do not specialize in law,” the president’s spouse replied. “So I cannot ask you — answer you on a professional level, but punishments are equally dispensed to any breaking of the law throughout many countries.”

The public hijab requirement has confronted pushback within the shape of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” motion during which many ladies refuse to put on their hijabs in public.

“I feel that our mere presence on the streets is an act of resistance. Practicing everyday life as we want is a part of our revolution,” Ava, a Tehran-based musician in her mid-20’s, advised ABC News previous this yr on situation of anonymity so she may talk freely concerning the motion.

At least 551 protesters, together with 68 youngsters and 49 ladies, were killed because the get started of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, according to Iran Human Rights.

Raddatz sat down with Alamolhoda only a day after her husband delivered a fiery speech on the United Nations General Assembly and a yr after huge protests erupted within the nation after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in morality police custody following an alleged violation of Iran’s hijab law.

ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian contributed to this record.