Dubai, United Arab Emirates.- Fearful of reigniting Iran’s worst political turmoil in years, the country’s rulers are turning to new, less intrusive tactics to punish women who refuse to wear the mandatory Islamic hijab.
The methods, introduced after last year’s anti-government protests across the country, combine the use of security cameras with the denial of state services to offenders, replacing the Morality Police, whose actions were the high point of the months of riots.
According to Iranian activists, the measures have yet to make much headway against opposition to the hijab and could add to economic pressures if they result in business closures.
“Walking uncovered in the streets is now my way of keeping our revolution alive,” said Roya, 31, a private teacher in the northern city of Rasht, who was arrested during protests in November and held for three months.
“We are not afraid of the regime’s threats. We want freedom… This path will continue until we take our country back from the clerics,” Maryam, a high school student from the western city of Kermanshah, told Reuters.
“What is the worst case scenario if I walk down the street without a hijab? Get arrested? I don’t care.”
For decades, women who refused to wear the hijab were accosted by the Morality Police, which operated out of vans patrolling busy public spaces.
The vehicles’ crews, made up of both men and women, monitored non-Islamic dress and behavior.
But those vans have mostly disappeared from city streets, residents told Reuters, after protests pitted Iran’s clerical rulers in their worst crisis of legitimacy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iranian authorities have also stated that the Morality Police patrols will no longer lead the campaign against those who break dress codes.
Instead of the vans, authorities are installing cameras on the streets to identify unveiled women, a more discreet method of detecting violations of Iran’s conservative dress code.
Another novel tactic is the government’s order to the public and private sectors not to provide services to “offenders.” Warnings of heavy fines and even prison terms have been issued.
However, more and more women are defying the authorities by shedding their headscarves in the wake of protests, which erupted after the death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish girl detained for allegedly violating hijab rules.
Security forces violently put down the revolt and street demonstrations died down in February.
Mahsa Amini’s death in September while in the custody of the Morality Police sparked years of pent-up anger in society over issues ranging from economic misery to the tightening of political controls.
Women now frequently appear unveiled in malls, airports, restaurants and streets in a display of civil disobedience.
