Iran’s first counseling clinic, which explicitly promotes the necessary hijab legislation, will provide “scientific and psychological therapy for hijab removing,” stated Mehri Talebi Darestani, the girl who will oversee the power. he stated.
“The institution of this middle is aimed on the scientific and psychological therapy of hijab removing, particularly for the teenage technology, younger folks and girls who search social and Islamic identification, and visits to this middle are voluntary.” she added.
The language of the clinic’s mission assertion is similar to that of a substance abuse facility. Prominent activists and human rights defenders have denounced the authorities’ makes an attempt to pathologize anti-hijab opponents.
A controversial chief takes the helm
Darestani’s workplace is a part of Iran’s Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which is answerable for defining and implementing strict non secular requirements in society, particularly girls’s costume.
The group is headed by Mohamed Saleh Hashemi Golpaegani, a direct appointee of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Mehri Talebi Darestani Director of Women and Family, Tehran Governorate Virtue Promotion Headquarters
Talebi Darestani stated the clinic caters to visiting girls and households who’ve been pressured to not adjust to hijab legal guidelines, and the venture goals to advertise “dignity, modesty, chastity and hijab.” It added that that is in keeping with the roadmap for promotion.
Talebi Darastani, a controversial determine prior to now, has supported and promoted little one marriage on state tv.
She beforehand served as director of the Ministry of Labor’s testing middle and was faraway from that put up in 2023 beneath unclear circumstances, including to the rising controversy surrounding her current appointment to the hijab enforcement function.
Reactions and rising tensions over hijab enforcement
Recent public reactions to the clinic point out that tensions over hijab enforcement proceed. A broadly publicized incident at Tehran’s Islamic Azad University final month introduced the difficulty again to the worldwide highlight.
Protesting enforcement measures on campus, a feminine scholar named Ahu Daryaei ignored safety guards who intervened over her hijab and took off her garments.
Dalyaei was transferred to a psychiatric middle shortly after her arrest, prompting accusations from activists that the federal government was making an attempt to undermine her protests by portraying her conduct as mentally irregular.
This observe of publicly gaslighting protesters is seen by critics as a deliberate technique to delegitimize dissent.
A screenshot of a video displaying Ahu Daryaei undressing on the Scientific Research Department of Azad University in Tehran on November 2, 2024.
Ethical debate over state involvement in psychological well being care
Iran’s psychiatric and psychological communities have responded critically to what they see as state manipulation of psychological well being examinations to silence dissent.
In 2023, 4 Iranian psychiatric associations issued a joint assertion condemning the federal government’s use of unscientific diagnoses equivalent to antifamilial persona dysfunction as a pretext to punish Hijab protesters.
The assertion highlighted sure ideas of Iran’s Psychiatric Professional Ethics Charter, which has been in pressure since 2015, and condemned the act as a violation {of professional} ethics.
The Charter particularly prohibits psychiatrists from participating in discriminatory practices towards people on the premise of spiritual, ethnic, or sexual identification.
Article 6 of the Charter warns towards discrimination, and article 7 emphasizes the significance of defending psychological well being observe from unqualified or politically motivated intervention.
Leadership change with out coverage reform
Despite President Massoud Pezeshkian vowing throughout the election marketing campaign to ease the hijab requirement, packages just like the “hijab removing clinic” counter conservatives to implement promised reforms. This could mirror the lack to take action.
Graffiti towards the oppression of girls who resist the duty to put on hijab
The continuation of necessary hijab measures beneath Pezeshikian’s authorities raises questions on Pezeshikian’s affect over Iran’s non secular establishments and highlights the battle to stability nationwide sentiment and ideological mission.
Amid rising worldwide scrutiny and home resistance, efforts to reframe and handle public dissent by way of psychiatry are prone to gasoline additional controversy over Iran’s method to human rights and private freedoms.