… One of my colleagues attended a media conference in Algiers last April, where post-graduate female students from the university acted as interpreters. These women, who were Muslim, were asked not to wear headscarves by the state broadcaster running the event, because it was felt they would send an anti-progressive signal to international delegates.
The young women complied, but were jeered at by men on the street as they walked bare-headed from the campus to the conference centre. Were they angered by these hecklers? On the contrary, their indignation was directed at the organiser for asking them to leave off their veils, thereby laying them open to taunts…
Martina Devlin, Independent
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Meanwhile, in Iran:
Last October Iranian police in the north-eastern town of Bojnourd launched a new crackdown on attractive mannequins in clothes stores and the main bazaar, confiscating about 65 ‘hijab-less female mannequins.’
“The use of vulgar mannequins – whether male or female – is an affront to public morals and is considered to be a crime,” said an Iranian official, adding that the display of properly veiled mannequins which adhere to the national dress code would not be considered a crime.