Tehran: The Iranian administration started installing cameras in public to monitor and identify those women who are not following the state’s dress code and penalise them. The new decision was taken after more women started defying compulsory dress codes, Reuters reported, citing state media reports.
Iranian police announced in a statement that those breaching the codes would receive warning text messages first, adding that the move intends to prevent resistance against the hijab law. The statement also said that resisting the law tarnishes the country’s spiritual image and spreads insecurity.
The number of women who stopped wearing hijab is increasing in the country after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, who died in morality police’s custody last September. She was detained for breaching the hijab rule.
Even after this, women could be seen widely in public without headwear, risking arrest and defying the obligatory dress code. Social media is flooded with visuals of women without headcovers, resisting the morality police.
The Saturday statement by the police asked owners of businesses to keep strict surveillance on women, keeping an eye on their dress code.
The Islamic Sharia imposed in Iran after the 1979 revolution has mandated that women must cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their features, and violators will face public rebuke, fines or arrest.
The Interior Ministry of Iran has said that veil is one of the civilisational foundations of Iran and one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic. It said that it would retreat from the law on that issue and urged citizens to confront unveiled women.
In the past, directions of confronting the unveiled had given rise to increased attacks on women in the country. A viral video from last week featured a man throwing yoghurt at two unveiled women in a shop, Reuters reported.