Hijab Row: Iran Govt Installs Cameras In Public Places To Identify Unveiled Women

Tehran: Iranian authorities are placing cameras in public locations and thoroughfares to identify and penalise unveiled women, the police stated on Saturday, in an effort to rein in the growing number of women who flout the mandatory clothing code, news agency Reuters reported.

Violators will get “warning text messages as to the repercussions” after being identified, police said in a statement.

The measure is intended to “prevent opposition to the hijab legislation,” according to the statement, which was broadcast by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency and other official media, adding that such defiance tarnishes the country’s spiritual image and fosters instability.

With the murder of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police in September, an increasing number of Iranian women have abandoned their veils. Mahsa Amini was arrested for allegedly breaking the hijab rule. The security forces mercilessly suppressed the insurrection.

Women are still seen unveiled in malls, restaurants, stores, and streets around the country, risking jail for disobeying the mandatory clothing code. Social internet has been inundated with videos of exposed women defying the morality police.

The police statement on Saturday urged company owners to “carefully check the adherence of cultural standards with their rigorous inspections.”

Women in Iran are required to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting garments to conceal their figures under Islamic Sharia law, which was enforced following the 1979 revolution. Violators have faced public chastisement, fines, or arrest.

An Interior Ministry statement on March 30 stated that the veil was “one of the civilizational foundations of the Iranian nation” and “one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic,” and that there would be no retreat on the issue.