Female TV cartoon characters must wear hijab, Iran’s Khamenei decrees

From the Hindustan Times

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa on Monday stating that women in cartoons and animated features must be depicted wearing a hijab, according to the country’s Tasnim news agency. “Although wearing hijab in such a hypothetical situation is not required per se, observing hijab in animation is required due to the consequences of not wearing a hijab,” Khamenei said according to the report.

Political activists in Iran condemned the fatwa, calling it ‘toxic’. Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad wrote on Twitter: “This isn’t a joke! The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran has announced women even in animations should wear hijab. Even female insects like bees have their hijabs on! Their obsession with the hair of female anything is toxic. These people are in power in Iran.”

I can’t find a picture of a bee in a hijab, but I think these cartoon creatures (bears? mice? With those round ears I’m favouring mice) from an Arabic for toddlers course are the sort of thing he has in mind. These are not Iranian, but they are for “little hijabis”.