Iran Calls For Citizens Support In Face Of Hijab Rebellion

The Iranian government has issued a call for citizens to actively participate in a plan aimed at countering the removal of hijabs as masses of women reject strict laws.

Local news outlets have revealed that citizens are being invited via text messages to join the "Verbal Warning and Confrontation with the Unveiling and Indecency" initiative, one of Islamic Republic's terms for crackdown on hijab defiance.

Ahmad Vahidi, the Minister of Interior, supported the growing activism of hardliner Iranians clashing with women not wearing hijab, saying, "It seems to be carried out by popular groups under the banner of enjoining good and forbidding evil. Everyone has a duty for this, but it should be done with good manners, solely through verbal advice."

The recent deployment of state-backed police and hijab patrols in Tehran's metro stations continues to stir controversy. Social media images depict numerous hijab officers causing congestion in a subway passageway at Tehran's Enghelab station, now colloquially referred to as the "horror tunnel" for women.

Reports highlight the Security Police (FARAJA) using cameras to identify women without headscarves. The stringent enforcement of hijab rules gained momentum after the tragic death of Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in hijab police custody in September 2022, sparking the Women, Life, Freedom protests.

The heightened presence of hijab police has also resulted in the tragic death of Armita Geravand, 16, who lost her life in October following an encounter with Tehran's hijab police in the subway, echoing the Mahsa Amini tragedy one year earlier.