Iran’s Islamist rulers want sex segregation on pavements

Sat. 07 Jan 2006

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 07 – The government of radical Islamist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to segregate Iran’s pedestrian walkways on gender basis, according to Fatemeh Alia, a deputy in Iran’s Majlis (Parliament) and one of Ahmadinejad’s closest allies.

Since Ahmadinejad took office as president, new measures have been enforced to, in his words, “return the Islamic Republic to the days of the [1979 Islamic] revolution”.

As part of the government plan called “Increase the hejab (veil) culture and female chastity”, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has received orders to construct separate pedestrian walkways for men and women, according to Alia.

“This plan is the most advanced and complete plan regarding the hejab. In the next two weeks its final considerations will be complete and it will start to be implemented”.

Previously, when he was Mayor of Tehran, Ahmadinejad ordered all the buildings belonging to the municipality to have separate elevators for men and women.

“The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development will have an obligation to construct apartments in a special way … which would be in line with the culture and atmosphere of an Islamic society. The Ministry of Roads and Transport must pay special attention to the walkways, roads, railways, and transportation routes so that we no longer get reports of mal-veiling in these routes”, the hard-line Majlis deputy said.

Alia added that special provisions also had to be made for tourists who travel to
Iran so that they also adhere to Islamic regulations.

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