President's Father-in-Law Demands People Act on Lack of Hijab

Ahmah Alam al-Hoda, the notoriously misogynist Friday Imam of Mashhad, has used yet another Friday sermon to rail against women having visible hair on their heads. The father-in-law of President Ebrahim Raisi entreated the faithful to intervene if they saw an unveiled woman in public.

Alam al-Hoda declared: "From the beginning of the revolution until now, people have been active in every arena. Everyone should get involved in the issue of enjoining good and prohibiting evil.The prevention of vice is obligatory on all, and it is not permissible to be indifferent about lack of hijab. You should not wait for the police to go in that direction. Everyone should feel responsible in this matter."

He went on: "They want to take Velayat-e-Faqih away from us, but fortunately here in the land of Khorasan [Razavi Khorasan province], there is not the slightest movement that disrupts the system."

Al-Hoda has previously described "bad hijab" as "worse than theft and murder" and unveiled women as "vicious as wolves". He has also railed against women city councillors and female athletes taking part in the Olympics opening ceremony. Last summer, he successfully called for women to be banned from riding bicycles in Mashhad.