The head of the Iranian police’s NAJA special forces unit has claimed that women who “stubbornly” remove their hijab in public, for any reason at all, have committed a crime and will be prosecuted.
Speaking on Tuesday, January 18, Mohammad Rostami on Tuesday said police would be cracking down on women and girls who do not abide by the Islamic Republic’s mandatory hijab rule. “The legislature has criminalized unveiling,” he said, adding tautologically, “and law enforcement agencies are responsible for enforcing the law.”
Citing Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code, Rostami said women going unveiled was a separate offence to the oft-cited “bad hijab”. Women and girls have been detained and beaten on the streets of Iran for years on the basis of their hair not being covered.
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