Iranian authorities have stepped up efforts to enforce the country’s compulsory ‘hijab’ dress code, particularly among women, by installing cameras in public places and thoroughfares.
The move is aimed at identifying and penalizing women who do not comply with the dress code, also known as the hijab law.
After being identified, violators will receive warning text messages, according to a statement by the police carried by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency and other state media.
The crackdown comes amid a growing number of Iranian women defying the law, particularly since the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, last year while in the custody of the morality police.
Amini was detained for allegedly violating the hijab rule, sparking protests that were violently put down by security forces.
Despite the risks of arrest, many women continue to go unveiled in malls, restaurants, shops, and streets around the country.
Videos of women resisting the morality police have flooded social media, fueling a debate about personal freedom and state interference.
In a statement on Saturday, the police called on business owners to “seriously monitor the observance of societal norms with their diligent inspections.”
The statement also claimed that the resistance against the hijab law “tarnishes Iran’s spiritual image and spreads insecurity.”
The dress code is enforced under Iran’s Islamic sharia law, which was imposed after the 1979 revolution. Women are required to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures. Violators can face public rebuke, fines, or arrest.
The crackdown on dress code violations coincides with a wave of suspected poisonings affecting female students at schools in central towns and cities across Iran.
Dozens of students were taken ill on Saturday in the northwestern city of Ardabil, while hundreds of others were affected earlier this year.
Authorities have accused the Islamic Republic’s “enemies” of using the attacks to undermine the clerical establishment, but suspicions have fallen on hardline groups operating as self-declared guardians of their interpretation of Islam.
