Repression of women in Iran continues. Iranian authorities have started installing cameras in public places to identify women who violate the obligation to wear a headscarf. The identified women will receive a message about the consequences of not wearing the hijab, police said. The initiative is supposed to help prevent “resistance against the hijab law”, police explained.
After the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the moral police in Tehran, the country has been crisscrossed by months of protests led by women, which have been repressed in blood. Since then, a growing number of women have stopped covering their heads with the hijab, particularly in larger cities, despite the risk of arrest. A police statement published by official news agencies said the system uses so-called “smart” cameras and other tools to identify and send “documents and warning messages to violators of the hijab law”. Police described the headscarf as “one of the cornerstones of the Iranian nation’s civilization” and urged restaurant and shop owners to comply with the rules through “diligent inspections”.
Public attacks on uncovered women are not uncommon: last week, video of a man throwing yogurt at two uncovered women circulated widely online and the women were subsequently arrested under the hijab law. The man was also arrested. Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, however, has warned that a widespread crackdown may not be the best way to encourage women to follow the rules. “Cultural problems must be solved by cultural means… If we solve these problems by arresting and incarcerating, the costs will increase and we will not see the desired effectiveness”, he ponders.
Source: IL Tempo

John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.