Iranian authorities have launched a new campaign to enforce the country’s oppressive hijab laws.
Dubbed Project Nour, hijab patrol vehicles and agents are now reportedly back on the streets, a sight that had been largely absent since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in the custody of Iran’s infamous morality police in 2022.
Join the JBN+ WhatsApp GroupWhile the latest draft of the bill has not been made public, a previous draft in April stipulates that violators may face severe punishments, including up to a decade in prison, flogging, and substantial fines.
As a result of Project Nour, disturbing accounts of police misconduct have recently emerged, including incidents of officers extorting money from women in exchange for leniency, as well as allegations of theft and sexual harassment.
In one incident, an Iranian woman revealed to Iran International that she and several others were coerced by police into paying 100 million rials ($153) under the threat of arrest. Another reported that a police officer demanded she deposit 120 million rials into his bank account as a condition for her release.
Three other Iranian women claimed that upon their release from torturous police custody, they discovered that pieces of their jewelry were missing from their surrendered belongings. When the women attempted to reclaim their possessions, they were met with sexual harassment and denial from their captors.
All women in Iran were forced to wear hijabs following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, which saw the overthrow of the Shah and the establishment of a tyrannical regime led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Despite the regime claiming a hijab is a symbol of modesty to counter Western influence, the deaths and torture associated with the archaic law have given rise to deep sentiment amongst Iranian women and the international community.
During a conference in Geneva this month, UN Human Rights representative Jeremy Laurence blasted Iran’s hijab law and called on the regime to remove all forms of gender-based discrimination.
“We have received information that uniformed and plainclothes police in Iran are enforcing a violent crackdown throughout the country against women and girls under the country’s strict hijab laws as well as men supporting them,” Laurence said. “These reports reports show a widespread of arrests and harassment of women and girls, many between the ages of 15 and 17.”
“Corporal punishment constitutes a form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, and any detention imposed for the exercise of fundamental freedoms is arbitrary under international law.”
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