Accessibility links

Breaking News

Iran to Crack Down on People Who Promote Removing Veil


FILE - This UGC image posted on Twitter reportedly on Oct. 26, 2022, shows an unveiled woman overlooking thousands making their way toward a cemetery in Mahsa Amini's hometown. An increasing number of women in Iran are defying Iran's compulsory dress code by not wearing hijabs.
FILE - This UGC image posted on Twitter reportedly on Oct. 26, 2022, shows an unveiled woman overlooking thousands making their way toward a cemetery in Mahsa Amini's hometown. An increasing number of women in Iran are defying Iran's compulsory dress code by not wearing hijabs.

People who encourage women to remove the hijab will be prosecuted in criminal courts and have no right to appeal a conviction, Iran's deputy attorney general was quoted as saying on Saturday.

His comments come as an increasing number of women have been defying Iran's compulsory dress code, appearing unveiled in malls, restaurants, shops, other public areas and on streets.

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 penalize 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.

"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 while 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.

Since then, videos of unveiled women resisting the morality police have flooded social media.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

Special Report

XS
SM
MD
LG