THE WORRYING MISUSE OF PSYCHIATRY AGAINST HOSTILE WOMEN

TO THE ISLAMIC VEIL IN IRAN

Symbol of the transgression of Iranian women against the obligation to wear the veil, the actress Afsaneh Bayegan appeared bareheaded several times on her Instagram feed, and more recently during a public ceremony.

The Iranian power did not appreciate it. Following her refusal to submit to the clothing diktats imposed by the power, a court condemned her Afsaneh Bayegan, star of 61 years and respected figure of Iranian television. suspended for two years and forced her to undergo weekly psychological treatment in a "psychological center" for supposedly treating a supposed "mental disorder of the anti-family personality", as reported by the Fars news agency. July 19.

The case of this actress is not unique. Other Iranian judges have also diagnosed "antisocial personality disorder" in other celebrities, such as Azadeh Samadi, who was forced into weekly therapy for wearing a hat instead of a veil at a funeral.

Misappropriation of psychiatry by the justice of the mullahs

In early July, another court in Tehran sentenced a woman for breaking the veil to two months in prison and six months' treatment for what the court this time called a "contagious psychological disorder that results in sexual promiscuity".

A few days earlier, a woman caught driving without her veil was sentenced by a court in Varamin, Tehran province, to wash corpses for a month in a morgue in the capital.

The proliferation of judgments of this nature has drawn criticism from the Iranian psychiatric sector. In an open letter addressed to the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, the presidents of four mental health associations denounced the abusive use of psychiatry for the purpose of repression by justice. They recalled that the diagnosis of mental disorders is the competence of psychiatrists and not of judges.

The concern is all the greater as the youngest are not spared. . At the height of massive protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, Iran's education minister admitted schoolchildren were being held in "medico-psychological centers" to undergo "re-education" to prevent dissent. A decision strongly criticized by the union of Iranian teachers, who feared that these centers would become real military camps.

Towards a criminalization of unveiled women

A headlong rush that should not work out. As the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death approaches in September, the various services of the Iranian state apparatus seem to be embarking on a "one-upmanship" to stifle any protest, observes Azadeh Kian.

A bill presented at the end of July to the Iranian Parliament proposes to introduce even heavier penalties against these women who refuse to comply with this injunction. If this law is adopted, these women could lose their civic rights, their right to work, and be deprived of all the opportunities of daily life, deplores the researcher. would be deemed to be 'spreading anti-veiling slogans', in which case they would even risk being sentenced to death",

The death of Mahsa Amini had triggered a vast protest movement with demonstrations in several cities in October and November before declining. Several hundred people were killed and thousands arrested. Seven men were executed for their involvement in this movement. Called into question by the demonstrators, the morality police had largely disappeared from the streets in recent months before reappearing in the streets to strengthen control over women. And more and more women were going out with their heads uncovered, especially in Tehran and in the big cities.

For how much longer ?