Serbian speaker criticized for wearing strict Islamic dress

Serbian speaker criticized for wearing strict Islamic dress

"Does she (Gojkovic) understand the message she is sending when, as an official representative of a state where where women have their equality, she chooses to wear one of the strictest versions of the hijab ('al-amira') while the rest of her clothes are very much like a jilbab?"

Srbljanovic also noted that women politicians who visit Iran dress so to honor the local law, but at the same time without trampling on "what they came from," and mentioned the visits of EU's Federica Mogherini and Catherine Ashton, the Australian foreign minister, "some ordinary young Iranian woman, and also myself" in this context, describing Gojkovic's gesture as "all the more meaningless."

"Nobody is forcing women to be more conservative than an imam, especially when they are official guests. When Gojkovic chooses this herself, she is insulting not only those Iranian women who are fighting for their rights, but also all of us who will not give up on our right to equality," said Srbljanovic.

She added that although women who do not cover their hair risk being sentenced to 90 lashes, "an incredibly large number" is trying and increasingly succeeding "in carve out a hair strand of freedom for themselves."

In this context, Srbljanovic continued, "the message of foreign women like Gojkovic, visiting for political tourism, is this: 'Back to the cage, woman!'."

Srbljanovic added that "practically any hair cover is a hijab, including a scarf" and that Gojkovic, even if she went for "the strict al-amira" variant of the Islamic garb, "could at least have chosen a two-color one, which is common - to at least fight a little against the imposed black color."

"But no - she even aligned the rest of her wardrobe to her imagined vision of Iranian protocol, wearing something that looks like a jilbab, which nobody in Iran wears," the playwright explained, and noted that Iranians are not Arabs - "but the president of the Serbian (national) assembly obviously does not know that."

Srbljanovic then described Iran as "a country that she would visit again tomorrow" and its people as "incredibly interesting, intelligent, educated, and beautiful."

Two-day visit

At the start of a two-day visit to Iran, Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic had meetings with Iranian officials on Monday, which highlighted the room for increasing trade, which now stands at USD 20 million, and confirmed support to Serbia's territorial integrity and sovereignty, her office announced on Monday.

Gojkovic met with Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, and thanked him for the country's support by non-recognizing Kosovo, while Larijani said that the visit may open a new chapter in the development of the two countries' relations, said a statement.

Gojkovic also met with Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, co-president of the Mixed Trade Committee and Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade. The two officials noted that there is room for increasing trade and underlined the importance of sessions of the Mixed Trade Committee.