Iran police issues strict warnings to women about mandatory headscarves in cars

Iranian police on January 2, Monday issued strict warnings for women about the mandatory headscarves that needed to be worn even in cars, according to Fars news agency. Even as the unrest linked to the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini continued to grip the country, Iran's senior police officer issued a warning of the “new stage” of the Nazer-1 programme or the “surveillance” in Persian for the women “across the country." The Nazer programme was launched by the Iranian authorities in 2020 which makes the “removal of the hijab in cars” a punishable offence. 

'Removal of hijab has been observed in your vehicle..': Morality Police

Over the past few months, the Iranian police had withdrawn its threat of legal action for women not wearing the hijab inside vehicles, but on January 2, police once again instated the rule, according to messages posted on social media. “The removal of hijab has been observed in your vehicle: It is necessary to respect the norms of the society and make sure this action is not repeated,” read a post shared by the Iranian police, according to Fars. 

Iran’s morality police, also known as Gasht-e Ershad, or “Guidance Patrol” once again tightened its noose around the strict dress code ethics compliance by the women. Women in the upmarket districts of the capital Tehran as well as the traditional southern suburbs have been spotted without a headscarf often but were not stopped in the past few months, according to the Iranian police. The removal of the headscarf is an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women under Islamic or shariah law. After the protests flared on September 16, morality police’s white and green vans were less visible on the roads due to the demonstrations for women's rights and freedom, which Tehran labelled as the “riots" and accused the West of orchestrating to destabilise the Iranian regime. 

Iranian police on Sunday also arbitrarily arrested dozens of top football players in a political crackdown on the New Year’s Eve party in the east of Tehran. Alcohol was being served and males and females mingled at the party in breach of the Islamic ban, Iranian media reported on Jan 1. The football players, who were not identified by names, were detained on the same day as the Iranian authorities announced the release of a dissident journalist Keyvan Samimi, whom they arrested in December 2020 for allegedly “plotting against national security," Tasnim news agency reported. There was no immediate clarification on the exact number of footballers arrested.