Iranian women defying hijab law will face… first warning, then court

Iran Anti-Hijab Protests: Women in Iran continue to defy the hijab rule since a wave of protests gripped the country after the death of Mahsa Amini.

Iranian police will use smart technology in public places to identify and then penalise women who violate the country’s strict hijab rule, authorities informed. Police said that it would “take action to identify norm-breaking people by using tools and smart cameras in public places and thoroughfares”. It will then send “the proof and warning messages to the violators of the hijab law” to “inform them about the legal consequences of repeating this crime”.

Iran Anti-Hijab Protests: A woman holds a placard with a picture of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini during a protest against her death. (AP)

Women in Iran continue to defy the hijab rule since a wave of protests gripped the country after the death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.

“From next Saturday, people who remove their veil will be identified by using smart equipment,” Iran’s police chief, Ahmad-Reza Radan, said in an interview with state television.

“People who remove their hijab in public places will be warned first and presented to the courts as a next step,” the police chief added, saying that car owners will also receive a warning text if any of their passengers violate the dress code.

Their vehicles will be seized if the offence is repeated, he further said. Mahsa Amini died on September 16, three days after her arrest by the “morality police” following which a wave of protests swept the country.

In a separate statement, the police said they would not tolerate “any individual or collective behaviour and actions that are contrary to the law”.

Earlier, Iran's head of the judiciary Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i said, “removing hijab amounts to enmity towards values and people who commit such abnormality will be punished”.