Iran to open hijab clinic, framing defiance as mental health issue

An Iranian state Islamic body announced plans on Tuesday for a new Tehran clinic to treat women flouting mandatory headscarves, in the latest example of authorities treating opponents of the rule as mentally ill.

Iran’s first counseling clinic explicitly dedicated to promoting mandatory hijab laws will provide "scientific and psychological treatment for hijab removal," said Mehri Talebi Darestani, the woman due to oversee the facility.

“The establishment of this center will be for the scientific and psychological treatment of removing the hijab, specifically for the teenage generation, young adults, and women seeking social and Islamic identity and visiting this center is optional," she added.

The wording of the clinic's mission statement closely resembles that of substance abuse facilities. Prominent activists and human rights advocates have condemned official attempts to pathologize opposition to the hijab.

A university student who stripped in apparent protest at harsh treatment by dress code enforcers was detained and sent for mental health treatment, officials said this month. Authorities have frequently described as insane proponents of the country’s Woman, Life, Freedom anti-hijab movement, which was sparked by the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of morality police.

A controversial leader at the helm

Darestani's office is part of Iran's Headquarters for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the body is responsible for defining and enforcing strict religious standards in society, particularly women's dress.

It is led by a man, Mohammed Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani, a direct appointee of appointed by Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

Talebi Darestani said that the clinic responds to visits by women and families pressured into non-compliance with hijab laws, adding that the project aligns with a roadmap for promoting “dignity, modesty, chastity, and hijab.”

A focus of controversy in the past, Talebi Darastani has supported and promoted child marriage on state television.

Previously the head of the Ministry of Labor's Inspection Center, she was dismissed from that post in 2023 under unclear circumstances, fueling debate over her recent appointment to her new hijab enforcement role.

Responses and growing tensions over hijab enforcement

Recent public reactions to the clinic show persistent tensions surrounding hijab enforcement. A widely publicized incident last month at the Islamic Azad University’s in Tehran brought the issue back into the global spotlight.

In protest against enforcement measures on campus, a female student named Ahoo Daryaei, removed her clothing in defiance of security staff intervening over her hijab.

Daryaei was transferred to a psychological center shortly after her arrest, drawing accusations from activists that the government is attempting to undermine her protest by portraying her actions as mentally aberrant.

This practice of publicly gaslighting protestors has been seen by critics as a deliberate strategy to delegitimize dissent.

Iranian authorities have increasingly utilized mental health institutions to manage dissent, a method condemned by human rights advocates as psychologically abusive and manipulative.

Following the 2022 protests, artists who posted images of themselves without a hijab, including actresses like Afsaneh Bayegan, Azadeh Samadi, and Leila Bolukat, received court-ordered mandates for weekly visits to psychological centers for mental health certificates in response to their conduct.

The ethical debate over state involvement in psychiatry

Iran’s psychiatric and psychological community has responded critically to the state’s perceived manipulation of mental health diagnoses to silence opposition.

In 2023, four Iranian psychiatric associations issued a joint statement condemning the government’s use of non-scientific diagnoses such as anti-family personality disorder as a pretext for punishing hijab protestors.

The statement decried the practice as a violation of professional ethics, highlighting specific principles from Iran’s Professional Ethics Charter for Psychiatry, which has been in place since 2015.

This charter explicitly prohibits psychiatric professionals from engaging in discriminatory actions against individuals based on religious, ethnic, or gender identities.

Clause six of the charter warns against discrimination, while clause seven emphasizes the importance of shielding mental health practice from unqualified or politically motivated interventions.

A shift in leadership without policy reform

Despite President Masoud Pezeshkian’s assurances during his campaign to ease the hijab mandate, programs like the Clinic for Quitting Hijab Removal may reflect an inability to challenge conservative factions and enact promised reforms.

The persistence of hijab enforcement measures under Pezeshkian’s administration has sparked questions regarding his influence over Iran’s religious institutions and highlights the struggle to balance public sentiment with ideological mandates.

With mounting international scrutiny and domestic resistance, the efforts to reframe and manage public dissent through psychiatry are likely to fuel further controversy over Iran’s approach to human rights and individual freedoms.