Iran Starts Rounding Up Women Who Took Off Veils On Anti-Hijab Day

Iran has started arresting women who participated in a nationwide civil disobedience campaign July 12 against the compulsory Islamic dress code, or hijab. 

Souri Babai Chegini, a civil activist who published a video removing her hijab, was arrested Wednesday evening, July 13, in Qazvin, probably the first activist detained following the anti-hijab protests. 

According to her husband, Mohammad-Reza Morad-Behrouzi, eight agents, including two women, raided his brother-in-law's house and arrested the activist. The security forces seized her children's cellphones as well as hers and threatened her 13-year-old daughter.

Melika Qaragozlu, another woman who took off her headscarf on Tuesday and shared a video on Social media, was arrested Thursday morning.

In her video on the anti-hijab day, Chegini also criticized various other discriminations against women, including their share in inheritance compared to men, the right to custody of children and divorce, the right to travel to other countries without the consent of a male guardian, as well as Muslim men’s right for formal marriage with four women and their right to infinite number of concubines (in Shiite sect). 

Following a call by women’s rights activists for civil disobedience with the hashtag of ‘No2Hijab’ social media exploded with dozens of videos and photos of women unveiling in public.

For the past few weeks, the government has increased harassment of women for their insufficient hijab and many have been detained by special police patrols.