Iranian police to install cameras in public to identify, penalize unveiled women

In a further effort to curb the number of women defying Iran’s dress code, authorities are installing cameras in public places and streets to identify and punish women who do not declare themselves, police announced on Saturday.

If identified, offenders will receive a “warning text message of the consequences,” police said in a statement.

The move was aimed at “preventing resistance to the hijab law,” said the statement, carried by the court’s Mizan news agency and other state media, adding that the resistance was damaging the country’s spiritual image and spreading insecurity.

A large number of Iranian women have ditched the hijab since the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police last September. Mahsa Amini has been arrested for allegedly violating the hijab rules. Security forces violently crushed the rebellion.

Still, risking arrest for refusing the mandatory dress code, women have been seen in large numbers in malls, restaurants, shops and streets across the country. A video of a woman defying the moral police has flooded social media.

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A police statement Saturday urged business owners to “carefully monitor compliance with community norms by diligently checking.”

According to Iran’s Islamic Sharia law, which was implemented after the 1979 revolution, women are required to cover their hair and wear long, loose clothing to disguise their figures. Violators have faced public reprimands, fines or imprisonment.

Describing the veil as “one of the foundations of the civilization of the Iranian nation” and “one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic,” the Ministry of Interior said on March 30 that it would not back down on the issue.

He urged citizens to confront women who do not wear the veil. These hints over the past decades have emboldened hardliners to attack women. Last week, a viral video showed a man throwing yogurt at two unannounced women in a grocery store.