Iran Starts Hijab Crackdown Even On The Dead

Iran has started policing the compulsory Islamic dress code – or hijab – on the tombstone of the country’s largest cemetery, located in the southern part of the capital Tehran. 

The director of the Behesht-e Zahra, Saeed Ghazanfari, confirmed on Monday that the cemetery has removed about 100 gravestones which had pictures of deceased women without veils. 

He added that the procedure will continue in the future "in accordance with the opinion of [religious] scholars" until all the gravestones with such pictures are removed, adding that a four-member team has been set up to prevent the installation of stones with unconventional images.

He claimed the move was made "in coordination" with the bereaved families to get their consent, but social media reports say the families were contacted after the pictures were removed. 

Iran’s security organs have also started arresting women who participated in a nationwide civil disobedience campaign against hijab on July 12.

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.

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