Iran’s president says hijab is the law after a viral video shows a man throwing yogurt at uncovered women in Masshad.
President Ebrahim Raisi has said the hijab is “a legal issue” in Iran after a viral video emerged showing a man throwing yogurt at two uncovered women at a shop near a holy Shiite Muslim town.
A growing number of women defied authorities by taking off their veils following nationwide protests that followed the death in September of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been detained by vice squads for allegedly violating hijab rules. Security forces violently crushed the protests.
The video appeared to show two female customers entering a store. Soon after, a man approached the women and spoke to them. He then takes what appears to be a large pot of yogurt and dumps the contents on the heads of the two women.
Judicial authorities in a town near the northeastern city of Mashhad ordered the arrest of two women, a mother and her daughter, for flouting Iran’s strict dress code and “committing a prohibited act,” state media reported Saturday.
Authorities issued an arrest warrant for the man “on charges of committing an abusive act and disorderly conduct,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reports.
While at risk of arrest for defying the mandatory dress code, women are still widely seen unveiled in malls, restaurants, shops and streets across the country.
Videos of unveiled women resisting vice squads have flooded social media.
Raisi said live on state television: “If some people say they don’t believe [in the hijab] … it is good to use persuasion … But the main point is that there is a legal requirement … and the hijab is a legal matter these days.”
Authorities said the dairy store owner, who confronted the attacker, had been alerted.
Social media reports indicated that his store had closed, although he was quoted by a local news agency as having been allowed to reopen and “explain” to a court.
The head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, previously threatened to “without mercy” prosecute women who appear unveiled in public, Iranian media reported.
“Disclosure amounts to enmity of [our] values,” Ejei was quoted 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 required to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothing to disguise their figure. Violators have faced public reprimands, fines or arrests.
An Interior Ministry statement on Thursday described the veil as “one of the foundations of civilization of the Iranian nation” and “one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic”.
It urged citizens to confront unveiled women. Such guidelines in recent decades have encouraged some people to attack women with impunity.
The government has often turned a blind eye to violations of the hijab rule, but this has sparked anger among pro-government religious leaders and politicians.
According to media reports, a religious leader and a lawmaker threatened to take action themselves on Saturday if the government does not step forward to enforce rules requiring individuals to wear the hijab.