The Iranian justice system yesterday ordered the arrest of two women whom a man threw a yogurt over in a store for not covering themselves with the veil, at the same time that it ordered the arrest of the aggressor. The episode was collected in a video that has caused a furor on social networks this week.
The clerk of the store located in the town of Shandiz, a neighbor of the holy city of Mashhad, in the northeast of the country, responded by pushing the attacker into the street.
The Shandiz Prosecutor’s Office ordered the arrest of the two women, mother and daughter, for not covering themselves, and that of the attacker for “disturbing public order.” The clerk has received a “reprimand” for allowing the presence of unveiled women in his establishment.
The Iranian regime is toughening its tone against the growing number of women defying the legal obligation to wear the hijab, or Islamic headscarf. The head of the judiciary, Gholamhosein Mohseni Ejei, said yesterday that he will persecute “without compassion” those who do not go covered in public, without specifying what type of punishment they will receive.
Ejei added that law enforcement officers are “obligated to report to judicial authorities obvious crimes and all kinds of abnormalities that go against religious law and occur in public.”
The death in custody last September of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who had been arrested for not wearing the hijab correctly, sparked a wave of protests in Iran that the authorities have only been able to quell with the execution of four protesters and the arrest of thousands. of people.
Despite the fierce crackdown, more and more women – especially young women – are removing their headscarves in public. Videos of Iranians defying the dress code in shopping centers, restaurants or streets flood social networks, which has set off alarms among conservative sectors and guardians of the essence of the Islamic Republic.
In 1983, four years after the Islamic revolution, the regime of the ayatollahs imposed the obligatory veil for women, who must not only cover their hair, but also hide their arms, legs and ankles, and wear loose clothing that conceals the shape of the body. body. The so-called morality police, sometimes with female squads, are in charge of ensuring that the law is respected.
The Interior Ministry this week described the headscarf “as one of the pillars of the Iranian nation’s civilization,” one of “the principles of the Islamic Republic” and “a religious necessity,” saying there will be no tolerance. He also urged citizens to stand up to women who break the law.
According to the Iranian press, a new law is being prepared to punish women who remove their hijab with penalties of up to $6,000. A hard-line deputy yesterday gave the judiciary 48 hours to take action on the matter and said that, if not, Parliament would act to fill the legal vacuum.
