Despite the fierce social protests, Iranian President Ebrahim Raiszi on Sunday stood up for stricter official enforcement of the rules on the mandatory wearing of headscarves, reports MTI.
“Respecting the headscarf is not only a religious, but also a political and legal obligation for Iranian women,” Raiszi said on the website of the Iranian presidential office. Therefore, there is “no doubt” that compliance checks should continue to be carried out consistently, he wrote.
With the start of the Persian New Year on March 20, the Iranian police and morality police are acting with renewed severity against violators of radical Islamic dress codes. Footage has also appeared on social media in which women and moral officers get into a debate over the mandatory wearing of headscarves. Two years ago, mass protests lasting several months were triggered by the death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsza Amini, who was detained by the morality police in September 2022 for violating the strict dress code. Amini died in custody, presumably due to severe abuse.
Since the protests, more and more Iranian women have deviated from the mandatory dress code, which is not tolerated by religious hardliners. At the same time, strict official controls are criticized in some religious circles, arguing that it is not possible to force women to reverently follow the precepts of Islam.
In Iran, it happens that women are cited in court for not wearing headscarves, then they are sent to psychiatric treatment or bizarre punishments are imposed on them, for example, there was one who was made to work as a dishwasher. According to analysts, this shows that the aging male elite has less and less control over social processes, and that the gap between the population and the theocratic leadership is widening. Since last summer, the moral police in the country have been checking the regulations for wearing headscarves again.
