Iranian women who ignore the laws requiring them to keep their heads covered while in public will soon be in for "scientific and psychological treatment" to end their defiance. The head of the Women and Family Department of the Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced the government's plans to open the Clinic for Quitting Hijab Removal. Mehri Talebi Darestani, who will run the Tehran clinic, said it will deal with "the teenage generation, young adults, and women seeking social and Islamic identity," per the Telegraph. She said attendance will be optional.
This new approach is the latest move in the government's response to protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody in 2022; the 22-year-old had been arrested for wearing her hijab improperly. About two weeks ago, a woman walking on a university campus in her underwear apparently was taken into custody, renewing the outcry from opponents of hajib laws and the government. The UN has called Iran's campaign "gender apartheid." Other steps have included covert surveillance of women and an increase in the number of morality police. Opposition to the creation of the Clinic for Quitting Hijab Removal was expressed by:
- A young woman from Iran: "It won't be a clinic, it will be a prison. We are struggling to make ends meet and have power outages, but a piece of cloth is what this state is worried about. If there was a time for all of us to come back to the streets, it's now or they'll lock us all up."
- A human rights lawyer in Iran: A clinic to treat women not complying with hijab laws is "neither Islamic and nor is it aligned with Iranian law," Hossein Raeesi said, per the Guardian.
- An Iranian journalist in the UK: "The idea of establishing clinics to 'cure' unveiled women is chilling, where people are separated from society simply for not conforming to the ruling ideology," said Sima Sabet.
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