An Iranian woman named Roya Heshamti received 74 lashes for “offending public morals” and was sentenced to pay a fine for not wearing an Islamic headscarf, Tehran’s judicial authorities announced, as quoted by AFP and News.ro.

Since the Islamic Revolution of 1973, wearing a veil has been mandatory in Iran for all women, foreign visitors who are required to cover their heads in public.

“The convict, Roya Heshamti, decently encouraged permissiveness (by going out) in highly visited places in Tehran,” the justice press outlet Mizan Online announced on Saturday evening.

“His punishment of 74 lashes was carried out in accordance with the law and Shariah,” “for offending public morals,” Mizan Online announced.

The convict’s lawyer, Maziar Tatati, told the reformist newspaper Shargh that his client was arrested in April “in connection with the fact that she published a photo on social networks without a headscarf.”

In Iran, the punishment for women who do not wear hijab in public places has increased

In recent months, more women have appeared without the veil in public after the controversy sparked by the death in September 2022 of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for violating the strict dress code.

The lawyer also specified that Heshamti was also sentenced to pay a fine “due to the lack of a Muslim headscarf in public places.”

In response to some acts of civil disobedience by women who did not wear the hijab, the authorities tried to tighten the tone and announced increased surveillance with the help of surveillance cameras, as well as jailed actresses who posed without the hijab on social media.

In September, Iran’s parliament passed a draft law that increases penalties for women who violate the dress code.