20 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Police of the Iranian province of West Azerbaijan have sent text messages to a total of 2,111 women warning them of the obligation to wear the veil after being recorded by video surveillance cameras without wearing this garment.
Along the same lines, the Iranian authorities have also ordered the closure of up to 80 commercial establishments in which the clothing regulations were not complied with, as reported by the local newspaper ‘Etemad’.
The Iranian Police recently began to control the use of the veil by women –mandatory according to the legislation– using video surveillance cameras based mainly on technology applied to control road traffic.
A powerful wave of protests swept the country last fall after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman aged just 22 who died in mid-September while in police custody for wearing the headscarf improperly.
In protest, many women in the country began to refuse to wear the headscarf. The concentrations in the streets of the main cities were harshly repressed by the authorities, and up to fifty deaths were recorded.
After the episodes of social tension and international criticism, for a time Tehran turned a blind eye to the violation of the hijab regulations, and even the controversial Morality Police almost disappeared from the streets, as DPA recalls.
However, the main religious authorities and pro-government politicians have now begun to pressure the Iranian leadership to further tighten control over compliance with strict dress codes affecting women.
