Tajikistan Set To Outlaw Islamic Hijab After Years Of Unofficial Ban

Radio Free Europe : After graduating from medical school, Salomat had to settle for working as a masseuse at a Dushanbe beauty salon because hospitals in Tajikistan don’t allow the Islamic hijab, which she wears.

“I had to choose between my career and my faith, and I chose the latter,” says Salomat, who didn’t want to give her full name. “I did remove my hijab in college because I thought that was temporary. But a career is for life.”

Thousands of women in Tajikistan have faced similar choices in recent years as the staunchly secular government in Dushanbe has been increasingly cracking down on the Islamic head scarf at schools and workplaces.

Despite the effective ban on the hijab in public institutions, there is no legislation in Tajikistan that outlaws Islamic attire. But that is about to change.

Parliament in the predominantly Muslim nation of some 10 million has adopted draft amendments to the law on “traditions and celebrations” that will ban the wearing, importing, selling, and advertising of “clothes alien to Tajik culture,” a term widely used by officials to describe Islamic clothing.

Lawmakers also approved new amendments to the code of administrative violations, which includes hefty fines for offenders. The code did not previously list the wearing of a hijab or other religious clothing as violations.

Tajik lawmaker Mavludakhon Mirzoeva told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service that the amended version of the draft bill “includes a ban” on clothes deemed foreign to Tajik culture.

The penalties for offenders vary from the equivalent of $740 for individuals to $5,400 for legal entities. Government officials and religious authorities face much higher fines of $3,700 and $5,060, respectively, if found guilty.

The draft bills have been sent to the upper house of parliament and are widely expected to be approved and signed into law by authoritarian President Emomali Rahmon.

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