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NEWS 08 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 AUGUST 2019 THE UK government has urged the EU to "change its stance" on negotiations after the bloc reportedly accused the UK of pursuing a no-deal Brexit. Downing Street rubbished the claim after the bloc said there was no new basis for "meaningful discussions" over a deal. Number 10 insisted that the EU should "rethink" its ap- proach to talks over its refusal to countenance changes to the withdrawal agreement ne- gotiated under former Prime Minister Theresa May. The government fired off the warning following reports that an EU briefing to diplo- mats said a no-deal Brexit ap- pears to be the UK's "central scenario". An anonymous senior EU diplomat told the Guardian and Telegraph: "It was clear UK does not have another plan. No intention to negoti- ate, which would require a plan. A no deal now appears to be the UK Government's central scenario." Prime Minister Boris John- son has said his government is working on the assumption that a no-deal Brexit will oc- cur. The bloc has ruled out re- moving the so-called Irish backstop, which is designed to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland. Johnson has said the back- stop must go from any new deal. MPs rejected May's Brexit deal three times over the back- stop issue, fearing it could lock the UK into an indefinite customs union with the EU. If the UK and EU fail to agree a new deal, Johnson has com- mitted to leaving the bloc in a no-deal Brexit on 31 October. A Downing Street spokes- person said: "The Prime Min- ister wants to meet EU lead- ers and negotiate a new deal – one that abolishes the anti- democratic backstop. "We will throw ourselves into the negotiations with the greatest energy and the spirit of friendship and we hope the EU will rethink its current re- fusal to make any changes to the withdrawal agreement. "The fact is the withdrawal agreement has been rejected by Parliament three times and will not pass in its current form so if the EU wants a deal, it needs to change its stance. "Until then, we will continue to prepare to leave the EU on October 31." Downing Street: EU must 'change stance' to avoid no-deal Brexit IRAN'S latest crackdown on women has taken place in the quiet of a courtroom. On 31 July, a court in Tehran sentenced three women – in- cluding a mother and daugh- ter – to prison for protesting laws that make wearing a hijab compulsory. The three are among dozens arrested in the past two years for defying the government's mandatory dress code for women. On 10 April, police arrested Yasaman Ariyani, a 23-year- old activist, at her home in Karaj, on the outskirts of Teh- ran. The next day, authori- ties also arrested Ariyani's mother, Monireh Arabshahi, when she went to the prosecu- tor's office in Tehran to look for her daughter. Two weeks later, police arrested a third woman, Mojgan Keshavarz, at her home in front of her nine- year-old daughter. The arrests followed a video that went viral showing the three women, without head- scarves, handing out flowers on a Tehran metro to women on 8 March – International Women's Day – to encourage solidarity against the compul- sory hijab. "The day will come when we won't have to fight for our most basic rights," Ar- abshahi is heard saying in the video. Ariyani is seen talking to one woman wearing the chador, a full black robe, say- ing she hopes one day to walk down the street with her, "me without the hijab and you with the hijab." On 31 July, Branch 31 of Tehran's revolutionary court sentenced all three women to five years in prison for "assem- bly and collusion to act against national security," one year for "propaganda against the state," and ten years for "encouraging and providing for [moral] cor- ruption and prostitution." The court sentenced Keshavarz to an additional seven-and-a-half years for "insulting the sacred." If these sentences are upheld on appeal, the women would serve their longest sentence: ten years. Iran has a history of imposing rules about what women can and cannot wear, in violation of their fundamental rights. In the 1930s, Reza Shah, the then-ruler, prohibited women from wearing the hijab and police were ordered to for- cibly remove women's head- scarves. Following the Iranian revolution of 1979, Iranian authorities imposed a manda- tory dress code requiring all women to wear the hijab. Iranian women defied these unjust rules in each of these eras, and they are challeng- ing them again – at enormous personal cost. It's time for Iran's government to respect women's freedom to dress as they please. Iranian women wearing hijab walk down a street in the capital Tehran Iranian women rebel against dress code