Iranian authorities are stepping up their crackdown on violations of the country’s mandatory hijab rules.
Tehran, Iran – Iran has relaunched patrols of its so-called morality police as authorities step up efforts to enforce the country’s mandatory hijab rules.
Saeid Montazeralmahdi, the spokesman for Iranian law enforcement, confirmed on Sunday that police patrols were already operational on foot and in vehicles to crack down on people whose cover is not considered adequate in the Islamic Republic.
The morality police “issue warnings and then present to the judicial system people who, unfortunately, persist in their offending behavior without worrying about the consequences of their coverage outside the norm,” state media said.
Montazeralmahdi said police expect everyone to adhere to accepted dress codes, so officers will have more time to deal with “other vital police missions”.
The officers are tasked with warning women, and sometimes men, to correct their attire. This could range from ordering women to adjust their headscarves to requiring a change of clothing to something looser and deemed more appropriate.
Women found to be breaking the rules could be detained and taken to so-called re-education facilities run by the police.
The news comes 10 months after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody after being arrested for an alleged dress code violation. His death sparked massive protests across the country that lasted for months as the moral police were largely absent from Iranian streets.
After the protests, Iranian authorities had largely refrained from highly controversial methods of enforcing mandatory hijab laws that were imposed shortly after the country’s Islamic revolution in 1979. That approach appears to be gradually changing.
In recent months, police have used surveillance cameras to identify hijab violators who are given warnings, fines or sent to court. People who violate the dress code while in their vehicles could be impounded.
Businesses have also come under increasing attack, with many cafes, restaurants and even sprawling shopping centers facing closure for serving women in loose hijabs.
There have been a number of high-profile hijab-related incidents this week.
Authorities released a video showing what appeared to be a group of police officers, accompanied by a camera crew, asking women of all ages to fix their hijabs. The camera zooms in on the blurred faces of the women and shows an animation indicating that they have been identified and brought to justice.
“Either fix your hijab or get in the van,” a man, whose voice has been digitally distorted, tells a young woman in the video. “If you believe in freedom, I’ll set all the thieves and rapists free to let you know how things work.”
Another incident occurred on Sunday when actor Mohamad Sadeghi was arrested. He had posted a reaction video online a day earlier, in which he responded to another clip that showed a female officer holding a hijab-wearing woman against the wall.
“If I see a scene like this in person, I might commit murder. Watch out, you better believe people are going to kill you,” he had said, prompting his arrest for “threatening the police” to do their job, according to media reports state
Earlier this week, actress Azadeh Samadi was sentenced by a court to a six-month ban from using social media and her mobile phone, as well as mandatory therapy to cure her of a “antisocial personality disorder” after attending the funeral of a theater director without a headscarf in May.
Samadi joined a group of actresses who in recent months have been cited or fined for ditching the headscarf in public or online.
Meanwhile, the government and parliament have been working on legislation aimed at strengthening hijab controls, but the bill has been criticized by conservative opponents who argue it is too lenient.
