It is not the first time that Iranians have received a message from the authorities on their mobile phones. It is a common practice that they use at different times: fines for breaking the speed limit, warnings for not wearing the veil properly inside vehicles or a New Year greeting. But the text that reached them a few days ago was different: it was confirmation that the expected counteroffensive to reimpose the use of the veil was intensifying. And, as many women had predicted, it happened before the end of the holy month of Ramadan, celebrated yesterday, and which officially marks the beginning of summer. The authorities fear that if during the cold months the absence of the veil became general, the situation will be even more uncontrollable with the arrival of heat.
"Dear compatriot, it is necessary to respect and observe the hijab law like any other law," read the message that arrived this week. The warning – read by many as a threat – followed the announcement by the newly appointed police chief, Ahmad-Reza Radan, who had made public the strategies with which the regime seeks to get women to cover their heads again: installation of artificial intelligence cameras in the streets to identify the faces of offenders, cuts in access to mobile phone and internet service for those who go without a veil, confiscation of vehicles, expulsions from work or academics, closure of businesses that answer with their heads uncovered
“None of what they are doing is backed by a law, there is nothing yet validated in Parliament, but for them that does not matter. They think they can do whatever they want with us women," explains a lawyer who asks to be identified by the name of Nazgol. This 45-year-old woman has removed her headscarf since the tragic death of Jina Mahsa Amini on September 16. The 22-year-old Kurdish girl collapsed in a police station after being captured by the now-defunct morality police in Tehran. At the hospital they declared that she had arrived brain dead.
The outburst of indignation that arose then gave rise to the protests that have most harshly challenged the existence of the Islamic Republic in recent decades. His response was to launch a campaign of repression that left more than 500 dead, thousands detained, and dozens of young people with physical injuries that will last for life. But, in one of those paradoxes that have marked life in Iran since the triumph of the revolution in 1979, the authorities turned a blind eye to the women who launched a campaign of civil disobedience and removed their headscarves.
Suddenly, the streets were adorned by long and arranged hair. Hair salons, which have always been a good business in Iran, had even more customers looking to straighten their hair, give it attractive cuts or dye it different colors. The young women opted for purple, blue or pink locks.
“My mother called me after hearing the words of Radan – the police commander – and implored me to put on the veil. She is afraid that something will happen to me, ”she says. What is particular about this plea is that his mother, a 67-year-old woman, also enjoyed in recent months the freedom to walk in the street with her hair in the air, something she had not done since the beginning of the revolution, when her rule was imposed. must usage. At first the woman refused to go uncovered, then she dropped her shawl and at the end she only carried it in her bag in case of an emergency.
"I was happy," acknowledges Nazgol, who points out that the scope of the new measures announced by the Government will only be known in a couple of weeks. So far, the authorities have announced that more than 500 stores have been closed in recent days and that they have sent dozens of notifications to vehicles where a woman without a veil has been detected, a practice that they were already doing before the death of Mahsa Amini. If the offense was repeated, the vehicle was confiscated, and the owner was fined.
Kimia, a 27-year-old designer, explains that in the last few days she has received four messages telling her to put on the veil and observe the rules. But she says that one of her friends recently received an SMS summoning her to court for the crime of not wearing a hijab. “It will be interesting to see how far they want to go, we will have to wait,” explains Nazgol, the lawyer, who recalls that the authorities do not always have the capacity to implement these restrictive policies. “The last thing they want right now is another social uprising,” she says.
For the moment, she continues to go out into the street uncovered, as did dozens of women who walked and played sports in Tehran's Taleqani Park yesterday. Many others have gone back into cover for fear of having their bank accounts closed, fired from their jobs or blocked from internet access. This is the case of Fariba, a 52-year-old housewife. She says that she will wait and see what happens in the next few weeks. By now she has put the veil back on.
For Maryam, a 40-year-old producer, the rules remain unclear. She recounts that last Thursday she was in a government bank, "I was without a veil and nobody said anything to me," she confirms. The only restriction she has been subjected to so far was at Tehran's Mehrabad airport, exclusively for internal flights. The lady at the counter refused to give her boarding pass until she put on her veil. Other young women have reported that taxis refuse to take them if they are not wearing a headscarf.
“My policy will be to not go anywhere where they force me to cover up. If the bank puts me in trouble, I'll open an account at another or I'll do the steps online,” explains Maryam, who stresses that she only tries to follow the example of the youngest, who are the most determined to continue this fight. Within this group is Nina, who works as an accountant in a private firm in Tehran where until now women do not have to cover themselves.
He has black hair below his shoulders and is wearing a blue shirt that barely covers his hips. “We, my friends and I, were waiting for this moment to come. We knew that [the authorities] could not show weakness in front of his followers. They have always said that the veil is the pillar of the Islamic Republic”, she explains.
Nina acknowledges that the biggest fear in recent months has been the attitude of Iranians, civilians or militants, who attack or recriminate women who do not wear their heads covered.
The clergy who are in charge of Friday prayers have invited citizens from their pulpits to enforce the rules. And Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has linked the absence of the hijab to a campaign by Iran's enemies. A few weeks ago, a man threw yogurt jars at a mother and her daughter when they were shopping at a store in Mashhad, the country's second largest city. During the Persian New Year holidays, which coincide with the arrival of spring, many women reported being accosted by people who accused them of not covering themselves. And others are accused by neighbors or passers-by through a telephone line set aside for these cases.
Until now, a large sector of society has refused to succumb to these types of threats. Just as they have ignored the warning of the head of the judiciary, Gholam Hosein Mohseni Ejei, who threatened to deal with the headscarf-related cases “without mercy”. But it is not always easy to be able to continue this fight, explains Nina, who warns that they fear greater attacks, such as acid attacks, as happened in Isfahan in 2014. None of these cases was clarified. “I am ready to go to jail, but I am afraid that something bigger could happen”, says Nina.
Universities is another of the scenarios where many women have had to give in. “If we don't obey them, they forbid us to register and we can't attend classes after that. That's why many of us have had to put on the hijab again," says Marzieh, a 20-year-old design student. Many young women in different cities of the country have been suspended for several semesters and expelled from the dormitories.
This week the case of Zahra Rahimi, a university student from the city of Yazd who ended up in hospital after being expelled for two semesters from the university, came to light. Some versions say that the attack on the young woman came after a meeting with the rector of the center. In Tehran, several groups of students have carried out protests in rejection of these measures.
“The result of this campaign we will only know later. I don't think they have the ability to control the younger ones,” says Maryam, the producer, targeting a group of young men with short hair and short-sleeved cotton T-shirts. “Something has changed and it is very difficult to turn it back,” she concludes.
