#WhiteWednesdays movement fights compulsory hijab (veiling laws)

Shaparak Shajarizadeh is an avid supporter of the #WhiteWednesdays movement, which encourages Iranian women to remove their headscarves on Wednesdays or wear a white shawl as a way to oppose compulsory hijab laws in Iran. She was jailed, tortured and fled to Canada before she was sentenced to 20 years in prison in absentia. Her lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, has been sentenced to 38 years and 148 lashes for defending her and many other jailed women’s rights activists. After the 1979 revolution, Iranian women have been subjected to forced hijab. In 2018, 112 women were arrested while defending women’s rights, many for peacefully protesting against the compulsory law