• Religion Iran orders arrest of two women who were not wearing a veil in a store
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In a new attempt to control the growing number of women defying the mandatory dress code, Iranian authorities are installing cameras in public places and streets to identify and punish unveiled women, police announced Saturday.

Once identified, violators will receive "warning text messages about the consequences," police said in a statement.

The move is aimed at "preventing resistance against the hijab law," said the statement, published by the judiciary's Mizan news agency and other state media, adding that such resistance tarnishes the country's spiritual image and spreads insecurity.

A growing number of Iranian women have removed their veils since the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in the custody of the moral police last September. Mahsa Amini had been arrested for allegedly violating the hijab rule. Security forces violently quelled the revolt.

Still, at the risk of arrest for defying the mandatory dress code, women are widely seen without a veil in malls, restaurants, stores and streets across the country. Videos of veilless women resisting morality policing have flooded social media.

Saturday's police statement called on business owners to "seriously monitor compliance with social norms with their diligent inspections."

Under Iran's Islamic sharia law, imposed after the 1979 revolution, women are required to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figure. Violators have faced public reprimands, fines or arrests.

Describing the veil as "one of the foundations of the civilization of the Iranian nation" and "one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic," an Interior Ministry statement said on March 30 that there would be no turning back on the issue.

He urged citizens to stand up to women without veils. Such directives have emboldened hardliners to attack women in recent decades. Last week, a viral video showed a man throwing yogurt at two unveiled women in a store.

  • Iran
  • Islam

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