Businesses are a new battleground in Iran’s crackdown on women without headscarves
LA TimesWomen without headscarves are a common sight on the streets of Tehran despite the theocratic regime’s disapproval. For months, Iranian authorities did little to enforce the law on women covering their hair, but now the country’s theocratic government is pushing to make businesses the new battleground over the mandatory headscarf. “Instead of addressing people’s legitimate grievances, the regime continues to obsess over the hijab and act as if its very survival depends on whether women dress modestly,” said Haleh Esfandiari, a fellow at the Washington-based Wilson Center. The bill would also empower intelligence agencies and the Basij — the all-volunteer force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that has violently suppressed nationwide protests in the past — to confront women without hijabs. Ezzeatollah Zarghami, a hard-line former Revolutionary Guard commander and the current minister for cultural heritage, warned that harsh sentences such as the mandatory morgue work “will cause more and significant problems instead of solving the hijab problem.” Iran’s Supreme Court overturned a court order impounding an uncovered woman’s car for a year and revoking her license, setting a precedent.