- Farnoush Amirshahi
- bbc persian
Many Iranian girls overtly flout costume codes by going out on the streets with out hijab
A “prime secret” doc obtained by BBC Persian outlines how the Iranian authorities plans to crack down on girls who don’t put on the hijab.
Two paperwork issued in April and May revealed that judicial authorities might arrange “cell courts” in public locations reminiscent of procuring malls to punish costume code violations.
It additionally means the women may face authorized motion by the Ministry of Education and celebrities may resist 10 years in jail for “selling corruption”.
The Iranian authorities has not commented.
And components of the directive are included within the controversial Hijab and Chastity Bill, which is at present being thought-about by the watchdog Guardian Council earlier than changing into legislation.
Iran’s parliament handed the invoice in September. It comes a yr after protests erupted in the course of the detention of Martha Amini, a 22-year-old lady who was detained by morality police on suspicion of not carrying the hijab correctly.
Hundreds have been reportedly killed in a brutal crackdown by safety forces throughout demonstrations in opposition to clerical rule, through which girls burned scarves and waved them within the air.
Although the unrest has subsided, extra girls and ladies have stopped overlaying their hair in public. It’s an open act of defiance.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi has accepted a sequence of directives geared toward coordinating actions by the federal government and different our bodies to deal with the problem of ladies not overlaying their hair in public, in response to leaked paperwork. — months earlier than Congress secretly started contemplating a hijab invoice.
It was revealed that safety providers, together with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) intelligence service, the Ministry of Intelligence, and the safety police, got broad powers to hold out these directives.
Some directives state:
- The police ought to “put together the required paperwork concerning the uncovered ladies” in order that acceptable motion could be taken via the Ministry of Education.
- Celebrities, influencers and bloggers who don’t cowl their hair or “encourage publicity” on social media will probably be charged with “facilitating corruption” and resist 10 years in jail.Police officers can even be capable to enter houses and seize computer systems and cell phones.
- Police officers can seal or shut down shops and different companies that don’t adjust to hijab laws with out permission, and clients who violate them could also be refused service, compelled to depart, or referred to legislation enforcement. I’ll do it.
- Cafes deemed “corruption facilities” attributable to their position in final yr’s protests ought to be closed, particularly these close to faculties and universities.
- Officers have been given the facility to provoke authorized proceedings in opposition to girls who resist warnings to cowl their hair, on expenses together with “selling corruption”.
- We want a nationwide database of “motorbike license plate banks” in order that we are able to establish feminine drivers and people carrying passengers with uncovered hair.
- There ought to be elevated scrutiny of corporations whose workers “provocatively and disrespectfully violate costume codes upon entry and exit and on premises.”
Significant parts of the directives within the leaked doc have already been carried out, reminiscent of establishing hijab enforcement items inside subway stations and different public areas. Confining autos transporting bare girls. Refusing service to girls who violate the costume code. And the cafe is closing.
According to the doc, police are required to deploy a enough variety of officers to “establish and alert girls who current themselves,” and Revolutionary Guards personnel will probably be assigned to serve in areas the place there are enough personnel. The firm plans to help the implementation of the next measures.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi accepted the directives, that are contained in two paperwork marked “prime secret”.
For the previous few months, Iranians have seen the presence of hijab enforcement officers in metro stations within the capital, Tehran.
The Ministry of Interior and the town of Tehran describe them as “an autonomous pressure that doesn’t require permission to function.”
But the paperwork present that their existence is the results of authorities selections that require planning and allocation of assets.
The doc additionally emphasizes the significance of “extensively photographing and documenting the id of these concerned in publicity,” and confirms that hijab enforcement officers photographing girls and ladies belong to safety companies. It exhibits.