facial recognition against unveiled women

The government announces the introduction of technologies to punish those who violate the hijab rule. They actually came into use before 2020. More than 300 people have been arrested for demonstrating against the provision. Loss of job and deprivation of civil rights if the photos on social networks are not “compliant”. The recent case of the death sentence of two LGBTQ+ activists.

Tehran () – The Iranian government has imposed a new repressive measure against dissidents, critical voices and ordinary citizens – especially women – explaining, among other things, the introduction of facial recognition technology, to “identify women who do not wear hijab (the Islamic headscarf)”. The announcement came at a time of growing attention and denunciations by the international community and activist groups against the increasing repression imposed by Tehran. The news of the death sentence of two activists for “corruption on earth” has just come out; the basis of the sentence was to have promoted the rights of homosexuals and, in the case of one of them, to have professed Christianity.

One of the recent directives of the ultra-conservative government of President Ebrahim Raisi, who has been in office since August 2021, is the decision to strengthen facial recognition technology – already widespread in some Asian countries, especially China and Israel. Added to this is an escalation in prison sentences, the use of torture and the use of capital punishment. “The decision – points out the expert Fariba Parsa of the Middle East Institute in L’Orient-Le Jour (LOJ) – to use facial recognition to check women’s clothing is an example of the fear that the Islamic Republic has of popular demonstrations. and the risk of a new uprising”.

A report published on September 5 by the semi-official Iranian agency Fars states that more than 300 people – it is not specified how long – were arrested for protesting against the compulsory veil. The trigger for the demonstrations was the July 5 directive that has further tightened the hijab obligation, in force since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and now applies to all women in the country, regardless of the religion they profess.

Another element that confirms the line of the new government, after the years under the presidency of the moderate Hassan Rouhani, is the decision to introduce “the national day of hijab and chastity”, which has been set for July 12 and will be celebrated for first time this year. The decision shows that the measures and controls related to the application of the dictates of Islam have been reinforced, with special attention to the female universe. Women who work in public offices, for example, can be fired if their profile photos on social media are deemed “not in compliance with sharia,” Islamic law. And those who publish images without the veil will be deprived of civil rights for a period of six months to a year.

When announcing the use of facial recognition, Mohammad Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani, secretary of the Organization for the Promotion of Virtue and the Suppression of Vice, first admitted the existence of this technology in Iranian surveillance systems. However, it would have been implemented a long time ago. In 2020, the London-based NGO Minority Rights Group International stated that Tehran “uses facial recognition technology to identify and arrest protesters and political dissidents; biometric data collection could provide further means to do so even more effectively.”

The news, reproduced by the international media, of the death sentence of two LGBTQ+ activists is framed within this framework of repression. They are Zahra Sedighi Hamedani, 31, and Elham Chubdar, 24. The basis for the conviction is not only having campaigned for the rights of all citizens, but also professing the Christian faith by attending a prayer service and wearing a necklace with a cross-shaped pendant. There is a third defendant awaiting a verdict. In response to international criticism, Tehran has responded that the basis of the death penalty is not rights activism, but “trafficking in human lives.”