Feb 23 2023

Qom: A Swiss envoy who was on a visit to Iran has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons for cladding herself with a long black veil in a country that has been fighting to reject the regime’s compulsory hijab mandate.

Pictures of the Swiss Envoy Nadine Olivieri Lozano have gone viral on social media with many condemning her move to wear a black veil that covered her head and whole body during her visit to the Iranian city of Qom.

In the photos, Lozano can also be seen posing with several Iranian clerics at a shrine in Qom and receiving a gift and a religious book from the shrine’s caretaker.

According to Iran International, Lozano’s trip to Iran was marked by her interest in Islamic culture. In the country, she travelled to Qom, a city 120 km south of Tehran.

Protestors outraged by envoy’s choice of attire

Lozano’s decision to don a veil was not well received by many Iranians who have been fighting a long war to deny Iran’s hijab mandate after a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, died in police custody for not wearing the hijab “properly.”

Iranian journalist, Masih Alinejad, said, “While teenagers & women are getting beaten, jailed & killed for saying NO to forced hijab, NO to gender apartheid regime, Swiss ambassador in Iran obeyed forced hijab. Shameful & betrayal to Iranian women. Switzerland must respond why they took side with our killers.”

An international human rights lawyer named Hillel Neuer said, “Meet Nadine Olivieri Lozano, Swiss Ambassador to Iran and star of the murderous regime’s propaganda. While women in Iran are being beaten, blinded, tortured, raped and killed for daring to protest the compulsory hijab laws, she is complicit in her head-to-toe chador and hijab.”

Branding Lozano’s move as “disgusting” a member of Belgium Parliament Darya Safai said, “Swiss ambassador Nadine Olivieri Lozano wears a chador & goes to a mosque with the mullahs. While millions of Iranian women are fighting for women’s rights and knowing that thousands have been killed for it, she wears a hijab and makes publicity for the oppressors.”

Many have argued that the incident was an insult to both Iranian and Swiss women. Some even demanded her resignation.

Young girl hit for not wearing hijab

The Swiss envoy’s visit comes amid a horrific incident where a young Iranian girl was hit in the face for not wearing a hijab.

In the videos shared on social media, the girl can be seen crying relentlessly while her nose bled out.

“Little girl bleeding after getting hit in Iran. Her fault? She didn’t wear Hijab. ‘Hijab is a choice’ is the biggest scam of our times,” wrote a user on Twitter.

Iran protests

The unrest in Iran that has drawn the attention of the entire world and is being considered the most impactful and longest-running protest the country has seen since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has now covered more than 100 days.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency says that around 500 protestors including 69 children have lost their lives during the demonstrations ever since they began in September.

Since then, two protestors have been executed and 26 others face trials that will decide their death sentences.

Source » msn

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