Even amid prolific human rights atrocities defining the Islamic Republic’s rule, the latest outrage by Iran’s notorious “morality police” this week stands apart for its striking depravity.

According to Iran International, an enforcer of Iran’s morality police stationed at a Shiraz metro station aggressively groped a 9-year-old girl on Wednesday under the perverse pretext of determining her physical “maturity” necessitating enforcement of mandatory hijab laws.

Iranian women lost their personal freedoms after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini decreed mandatory veiling enforceable by law.

In the aftermath of 2022’s “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising against institutionalized gender suppression, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei intensified his chokehold over Iran’s female population. Just last year, Khamenei reportedly deployed 400 new hijab secret street agents and equipped metro station cameras with invasive facial recognition.

Meanwhile, Iran’s #MeToo movement has gained some traction recently with several Iranian women coming forward on social media to share their trauma. Notably, allegations against a prominent Iranian bookstore owner named Keyvan Emamverd came to light in 2020 after 20 women came forward with rape stories.

However, Iran’s legal system poses significant barriers to justice for assault victims. Reporting rape can result in criminal charges for victims if the tyrannical regime does not believe them, as relationships outside of marriage are considered illegal. Furthermore, under Sharia law, the legal definition of rape is narrow and excludes marital rape.