According to a member of the Iranian parliament, the administration intends to introduce additional penalties for women who choose not to cover their heads in public, after receiving two warnings their bank accounts would be frozen.
According to Hossein Jalali, a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly’s Cultural Commission, “unveiled individuals” will first get an SMS reminding them to follow the legislation and wear a hijab, then they will go through a “warning phase,” and then their bank accounts may be blocked.
“In the third stage, the bank account of the unveiled person may be frozen.”
In response to similar government tactics in the past, dissidents and protesters have turned to cryptocurrency to maintain access to financial resources.
Jalali made the suggestion that there shouldn’t be “morality police” policing the law, and other important persons have observed that cameras may be used in conjunction with artificial intelligence to detect criminals. However, Jalali did not go into depth about what the “warning stage” involved.
Since September 17, when an Iranian lady called Mahsa Amini was detained by the morality police for not donning a hijab and then away in mysterious circumstances at a hospital in Tehran, demonstrations have been ongoing throughout Iran.
As part of a larger movement to pressure the government to drop the rule that women wear the hijab at all times, many women are now lighting their hijabs on fire or choosing not to wear them.
Similar incidents occurred earlier this year in Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on February 15 to allow regulators to freeze the bank accounts of participants in the “Freedom Convoy” protests. The threat to freeze the accounts of protestors is similar to those earlier this year.
After the crowdfunding website GoFundMe withdrew the campaign from its website, some convoy protesters resorted to cryptocurrencies as a means of financing the cause.
Iran has been creating its own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), known as the crypto Rial, and has been using it in international trade agreements since Aug. 9.
The danger of CBDCs and the shift to cashless economies is once again highlighted by the Iranian government’s threat to freeze bank accounts in order to ensure compliance.
Nigeria restricted ATM withdrawals of more than $45 per day on December 6 in an effort to compel people to utilize the CBDC, which is unpopular with the populace. However, unlike cash, transactions made using decentralized cryptocurrency cannot be restricted by authorities.
Wall Street Silver, a well-known YouTube personality and opponent of the CBDC, tweeted on December 6 that the concept of governments having complete control over your money is unsettling.
