People who encourage women to remove the hijab will be prosecuted in criminal courts and will have no right of appeal against any conviction, Iran’s deputy attorney general was quoted as saying on Saturday. Iran vows crack down on people who promote removing the veil.
His comments come as an increasing number of women have been defying Iran’s compulsory dress code, appearing unveiled in malls, restaurants, shops, streets, and other public areas.
Several female celebrities and activists have also in recent months posted photos of themselves on social media without the veil.
Iranian police on Saturday installed cameras in public places to identify and penalise unveiled women, Iranian media reported. Police announced the plan last week.
“The crime of promoting unveiling will be dealt with in the criminal court whose decisions are final and unappealable,” the semi-official Mehr News quoted deputy attorney general Ali Jamadi as saying. Iran vows crack down on people who promote removing the veil.
“The punishment for the crime of promoting and encouraging others to remove the hijab is much heavier than the crime of removing the hijab itself because it is one of the clear examples of encouraging corruption,” he added.
He did not say what the punishments might be or what exactly entails promoting unveiling.
A growing number of Iranian women have been ditching their veils since the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police last September. Mahsa Amini had been detained for allegedly violating the hijab rule. Security forces violently put down the protests following her death.
Before that in a further attempt to rein in increasing numbers of women defying the compulsory dress code, Iranian authorities are installing cameras in public places and thoroughfares to identify and penalize unveiled women, the police announced on Saturday. Iran installs cameras in public places to penalize unveiled women.
After they have been identified, violators will receive “warning text messages as to the consequences”, police said in a statement.
The move is aimed at “preventing resistance against the hijab law,” said the statement, carried by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency and other state media, adding that such resistance tarnishes the country’s spiritual image and spreads insecurity.
A growing number of Iranian women have been ditching their veils since the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police last September. Mahsa Amini had been detained for allegedly violating the hijab rule. Security forces violently put down the revolt.
Still, risking arrest for defying the obligatory dress code, women are still widely seen unveiled in malls, restaurants, shops, and streets around the country. Videos of unveiled women resisting the morality police have flooded social media.
Also read: Iran installs cameras in public places to penalise unveiled women
