A/HRC/34/40 on Arbitrary Detention determined that her detention was arbitrary and indicated that she had been detained in violation of her rights to freedom of expression and assembly and to a fair trial.16 41. At the end of 2016, Ali Shariati was on hunger strike in protest against the five-year sentence he received on the charge of acting against national security after participating in a protest in 2014 against acid attacks that had occurred in the city of Isfahan and had left at least seven women permanently disfigured. While Mr. Shariati was still in detention at the end of 2016, the perpetrators of the attacks had not been apprehended. 42. The Secretary-General welcomes the appointment of a Deputy President for Women and Family Affairs and the increasing number of women in the parliament. He also welcomes the information transmitted by the Government that the plan for “comprehensive population and family excellence”, which posed serious threats to women’s empowerment, was withdrawn from the parliamentary agenda in October. According to the World Economic Forum 2016 Global Gender Gap Index, Iran ranks 136th out of 145 countries with respect to political empowerment. It also ranks 140th in terms of economic participation and opportunity, with only 17 per cent of women in the labour force. The Secretary-General welcomes the decision taken by President Rouhani in July 2016 to suspend the examination for public sector jobs to investigate apparent discrimination against women.17 However, progress seems unlikely in this field as long as legal provisions conditioning women’s employment on the consent of their husband are maintained (article 1117 of the Civil Code) and laws giving preference to men in the labour market are not reformed.18 43. Strict and discriminatory rules on the dress code for women and girls continue to be enforced and have led to harassment, violence and the imprisonment of women. In May, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was quoted in State-run media as reiterating the need to be harsh on the issue of women’s compulsory veiling and indicating that a verbal prohibition would not suffice. In Tehran alone, 7,000 agents were reportedly deployed to monitor compliance with the rules on wearing a hijab. Women who appear without an Islamic hijab risk arrest and imprisonment of between 10 days and 2 months, or a fine of up to 500,000 Rls. A social media campaign launched in July 2016, showing Iranian men protesting against compulsory veiling and advocating for change, received considerable support. However, it did not lead to any initiative at the official level for the revocation of the compulsory dress code imposed on women and girls. 44. Freedom of movement for women and girls was further restricted in 2016. In July, in the city of Marivan, a group of women were reportedly arrested for riding bicycles and made to sign pledges not to repeat the “violation”. The police told them a new government directive had barred women from riding bicycles in public. 19 In September, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa banning women from bicycling in public and was quoted in official media as saying that riding a bicycle often attracts the attention of men and exposes society to corruption, and thus contravenes women’s chastity. In their comments on the present report, the authorities stated that the Supreme Leader’s fatwa was related to those who voluntarily emulated him in religious affairs, but that it was not binding, nor a governmental pronouncement. 45. Child marriage remains prevalent in Iran, where the legal age of marriage for girls is only 13, with girls as young as 9 years of age being married with the permission of a court. In December, Mohammad-Ali Pourmokhtar, a member of the Majlis Judicial and Legal 16 17 18 19 8 See opinion No. 2/2016. See www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/02/iran-postpones-job-tests-gender-bias-state-exclusivemen. In the previous report of the Secretary-General to the Human Rights Council, he expressed concern about the adoption of the Comprehensive Population and Exaltation of Family Law, on 2 November 2015, indicating that by giving priority to men in the labour market, it further excluded women from that sphere (see A/HRC/31/26, para. 41). Lizzie Dearden, “Women ‘arrested for riding bicycles’ in Iran and made to sign pledge never to cycle in public again”, Independent, 28 July 2016.