Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has emphasized that the hijab is a legal requirement in Iran, following a viral video that showed a man throwing yoghurt at two uncovered women in a shop near a holy Shia Muslim city. The video has sparked outrage among Iranian women who have been defying authorities by discarding their veils after nationwide protests. The protests were triggered by the death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman in September, who was in the custody of the morality police for allegedly violating hijab rules. Security forces violently cracked down on the protests.
The video shows two women entering a shop, and shortly afterwards, a man approaches them and talks to them. He then picks up what appears to be a large pot of yoghurt and throws its contents on the two women’s heads. Judicial authorities in a town near the northeastern city of Mashhad have ordered the arrest of two women, a mother and her daughter, for flouting Iran’s strict female dress rules and “committing a forbidden act”, state media reported on Saturday. Authorities have also issued an arrest warrant against the man “on charges of committing an insulting act and disturbance of order”, according to the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.
Despite the risk of arrest for defying the obligatory dress code, women are still widely seen unveiled in malls, restaurants, shops, and streets around the country. Videos of unveiled women resisting the morality police have flooded social media. In live remarks on state television, Raisi said: “If some people say they don’t believe [in the hijab] … it’s good to use persuasion … But the important point is that there is a legal requirement … and the hijab is today a legal matter.”
Authorities have warned the owner of the dairy shop who confronted the attacker. Reports on social media showed his shop had been shut, although he was quoted by a local news agency as saying he had been allowed to reopen and was due to “give explanations” to a court. Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei earlier threatened to prosecute “without mercy” women who appear in public unveiled, Iranian media reported. “Unveiling is tantamount to enmity of [our] values,” Ejei was quoted as saying by several news sites. He added that Iran’s enemies abroad are encouraging the violations.
Under Iranian law imposed after the 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures. Violators have faced public rebuke, fines, or arrest. The Ministry of the Interior has described the veil as “one of the civilisational foundations of the Iranian nation” and “one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic.” In a statement on Thursday, it said there would be no “retreat or tolerance” on the issue and urged citizens to confront unveiled women. Such directives have in previous decades emboldened some people to attack women without impunity.
The government has often turned a blind eye to the violation of hijab rule, but this has caused anger among pro-government religious leaders and politicians. According to media reports, a religious leader and a lawmaker on Saturday threatened to take action themselves if the government does not step forward to enforce rules requiring individuals to observe hijab.