Iran issues warning on mandatory headscarf in cars

Iranian police have reportedly begun encouraging women to continue wearing their compulsory headscarves even in cars as unrest following the passing of Mahsa Amini continues, according to media reports on Monday.

Since Iranian-Kurdish Amini, 22, died on September 16 while being held in Tehran for allegedly breaking the nation’s strict dress code for women, Iran has been shaken by protests.

Typically, Tehran refers to the demonstrations as “riots.”

The police are executing the “new stage” of the Nazer-1 program, also known as “monitoring” in Persian, “across the country,” according to a senior police officer reported by Fars News Agency.

According to Fars, the Nazer program, which will be launched in 2020, is concerned about the “removal of hijab in cars.”

In 2020, when it first debuted, automobile owners would receive an SMS text message informing them of a dress code infraction in their vehicle and threatening “legal” action if it occurred again.

The threat of legal action, however, seems to have been lifted by the police, according to messages published on social media sites.

A note purportedly written by police and shared on social media stated, “The removal of hijab has been spotted in your vehicle: It is vital to respect the norms of the society and make sure this action is not repeated.”

The rigorous dress code is enforced by Iran’s morality police, known as Gasht-e Ershad, or “Guidance Patrol,” who are authorized to access public spaces.

Following the rallies, many women were seen without a headscarf without being stopped in both more affluent areas of Tehran’s capital city and in more traditional and modest southern suburbs.

The white and green vehicles of the morality police have been far less frequent on Tehran’s streets since September.

Iran’s prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, was cited as saying that the morality police had been disbanded at the beginning of December.

Campaigners, however, expressed skepticism over his remarks because they looked to be an impromptu answer to a conference question rather than a publicly publicized statement from the interior ministry, which regulates the police.