Iran punishes woman for removing headscarf in public

Shaparak Shajarizadeh, a 42-year-old Iranian woman, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for removing her headscarf out of protest. She was filmed waving her headscarf around on the end of a stick on street.

Tehran: An Iranian woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison after she had protested the compulsory Islamic headscarf by removing it in public.

Shaparak Shajarizadeh, 42, was arrested in February after she was filmed waving her headscarf around on the end of a stick on street.

Shajarizadeh posted on her personal website saying that she had been jailed for "opposing the compulsory hijab" and "waving a white flag of peace in the street."

After she was released on bail in April, she posted a video on Twitter saying that she had fled the country as she feared that she was not safe there.

In the video she said that her punishment was divided as such - two years behind bars, and 18 years of suspended imprisonment.

Iranian police arrested 29 women in the month of February itself for removing their headscarves in public as part of a campaign known as "White Wednesdays."

In Iran, women showing their hair in public face penalties ranging from a $25 (£19) fine to prison time.

In Iran its obligatory to wear head scarves and not doing so results in penalties from a $25 fine to prison time.