Iran Shuts Down Insurance Company for Violating Mandatory Hijab Rules

The staff of the "Azki" private insurance company that was closed by the Iranian authorities due to the employees' non-compliance with the hijab. (social media)
The staff of the "Azki" private insurance company that was closed by the Iranian authorities due to the employees' non-compliance with the hijab. (social media)
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Iran Shuts Down Insurance Company for Violating Mandatory Hijab Rules

The staff of the "Azki" private insurance company that was closed by the Iranian authorities due to the employees' non-compliance with the hijab. (social media)
The staff of the "Azki" private insurance company that was closed by the Iranian authorities due to the employees' non-compliance with the hijab. (social media)

Iranian authorities have ordered the suspension of operations of an insurance company, Azki.com, due to female employees not abiding by the mandatory hijab, said Iranian state media.

Didehban news website reported that Azki.com was informed by the Central Insurance of Iran that its license was revoked, and its operations were suspended due to female employees being photographed without the hijab.

Didehban attributed this decision to a report published by the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency demanding sanctioning of the company.

IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency cited an official from the Central Insurance of Iran as saying that the company’s case will soon be referred to the judicial body in order to issue a sentence against it.

Moreover, Iranian authorities have shut down an office of e-commerce company, Digikala, after it published images showing Digikala's female employees without their mandatory hijabs.

Last week, Iranian authorities banned a film festival that put out a publicity poster featuring an actress who was not wearing a hijab headscarf. A poster for the upcoming short film festival showed Iranian actress Susan Taslimi in a film in 1982.

The Iranian police announced earlier this month that its “morality police” are to resume their street patrols to enforce the dress code of women and men, especially wearing the hijab among females.

The death of Mahsa Amini after she was detained by Iran's morality police has sparked angry protests in Iran. More than 500 people have been killed and roughly 20,000 people had been arrested during the authority crackdown on the protests. Around 70 members of the Basij forces and the police were killed in clashes with the protesters.

Following the protests, women can be seen walking without a headscarf in Tehran and major cities without being subject to a warning by the police.



Italy Says No US Extradition Request for Detained Iranian Businessman So Far

A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)
A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)
TT

Italy Says No US Extradition Request for Detained Iranian Businessman So Far

A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)
A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)

The United States has not submitted any formal request of extradition for an Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini detained in Milan, Italy's justice minister said in an interview published on Thursday.
"The matter of Abedini is purely legal ... regardless of the (freeing of Italian journalist) Cecilia Sala. It is premature to talk of extradition, also because no formal request has been sent to our ministry so far," Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told daily La Stampa.
Abedini is wanted by the United States on suspicion of involvement in a drone strike against US forces in Jordan. Iran has denied involvement and said last week the detention of the Iranian national amounted to hostage-taking.
His arrest has been linked to the detention three days later of Italian reporter Cecilia Sala, who was seized in Tehran on Dec. 19 while working under a regular journalistic visa and freed on Jan. 8.