Tehran Prosecutor Threatens Hijab Crackdown, Closing 10 Cafes as Women Still Defy Rules
Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 23
Tehran Prosecutor Threatens Hijab Crackdown, Closing 10 Cafes as Women Still Defy Rules
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 23
Summary
Tehran prosecutors said they will take serious action against alleged “indecency” at cafes, restaurants and clothing shops, sharpening a renewed push to enforce Iran’s mandatory hijab rules.
10 cafes in South Khorasan have already been shut, and Iranian media plus rights group HRANA reported closures in Tehran and other cities over dress-code violations and failure to enforce “Islamic decency.”
The campaign is being driven by hardliners who frame unveiled women as a threat to national and religious identity, even as a tougher 2024 hijab law remains suspended after intervention by the Supreme National Security Council.
Many women are still openly defying the rules—appearing unveiled in public and on social media—while President Masoud Pezeshkian has argued behavior cannot be changed through force, underscoring the regime’s caution after the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests.