The Iranian police have announced the resumption of morality police patrols to tackle “immodest attire” as temperatures exceed 50°C in certain cities across Iran.
Concurrently, an Iranian government newspaper disassociated itself from a contentious video warning issued by the Iranian police regarding non-compliance with the hijab law.
The video, which went viral on Saturday, conveys a security officer’s warning to a woman regarding her hijab, accompanied by threats of detainment, and potential harm from “thieves and criminals.”
Also, the video demonstrates the deployment of artificial intelligence technology to identify women who fail to comply with the country’s mandatory hijab law.
“Either you fix your hijab, or you enter the van,” a man, whose voice has been digitally distorted, tells a young woman in the video.
“If you believe in freedom, I will leave all the thieves and rapists free to let you know how things work,” he adds.
For its part, the government newspaper cautioned against transforming the hijab matter into a security issue and asserted that “the sole result of disseminating these videos is an attempt to sow division within society.”
The video was published in response to a previous video that caused anger within Iranian circles, depicting a policewoman confronting a woman for not wearing the hijab, last week.
Last week, a judge in Varamin city, Tehran Province, handed down a sentence against a woman who removed her hijab, ordering her to spend one month washing bodies in a morgue and pay a financial penalty.
Reformist newspaper Sharq noted on Sunday that four other women were recently sentenced to “attend psychology courses,” “carry out hospital cleaning duties,” and “face a two-year driving prohibition” following their convictions.
Saeid Montazeralmahdi, the spokesperson for the Iranian law enforcement force, confirmed on Sunday that police patrols were now operational on foot and with vehicles to crack down on people whose covering is not deemed appropriate in the Islamic Republic.
The morality police would “issue warnings and then introduce to the judicial system people who unfortunately insist on their norm-breaking behavior without concern for the consequences of their covering that is outside of the norm”, he was quoted as saying by state media.
