Tel Aviv, January 30: A “pro-Israeli” Azeri lawmaker says the Islamic veil is a “sign of ignorance and backwardness,” and Muslims who wish to observe it should wear it in the privacy of their homes.
As Baku struggles with a wave of protests against a ban on hijab, a member of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, Eldar Ibrahimov, criticizes the Islamic dress code, IRIB reported on Saturday.
“What does hijab give us? What has hijab bestowed on Iran that it could also impart to Azerbaijan?” he told local media on Friday.
“Hijab does not signify sense of honor,” he added.
“When law exists in a country and it states ‘do not wear hijab at school,’ then it must be obeyed. Now, anyone wishing to wear hijab can stay home and wear it even in front of her husband,” Ibrahimov said.
Ibrahimov — whose brother Nazim heads a government committee on Azeri affairs and is a Zionist lobbyist in the country — co-runs and owns pro-Tel Aviv ATV channel along with his other brother Tagi, IRIB reported.
As Chairman of State Committee of Azerbaijan Republic on Work with Diaspora, Nazim Ibrahimov has used the migration of a number of Jewish people of Azeri descent to Israel during the Soviet era as an excuse to make a string of trips to the occupied Palestinian territories, the report added.
Meanwhile, another report said Azeri media are accusing Iran of stoking unrest in the country, as Baku reacted to the protests by arresting several leaders of Islamic groups on weapons possession charges.
——–Agencies