The suppression of security forces against women in Iran, under the pretext of combating improper veiling, began on Saturday, April 13, 2024, and has taken on unprecedented dimensions with beatings, violence, and unprecedented brutality against women.
On the first day, security forces surrounded several main squares in Tehran with patrol vans from the Guidance Patrol and repressive forces. They brutally detained any woman who did not comply with their standards. Reports and images shared by Tehran citizens vividly demonstrate this suppression. The sound of stun guns can be clearly heard in one of the published videos capturing the moment of a woman’s arrest by the Guidance Patrol.
On Wednesday, April 16, 2024, security forces provoked a woman near Tajrish Metro Station in northern Tehran, leading to her nervous breakdown. Witnesses of this incident have reported that several individuals who had filmed the scene were abducted, and the woman was transferred to the hospital.
Similarly, at the Enghelab Metro Station in Tehran, security forces attacked women. A video, shared by one of the citizens, shows several security personnel using force and individual acts of violence to forcefully place a person inside a police van. The videos shared on social media and the accounts of women who have encountered the Guidance Patrol and male and female police officers in the past five days reveal the severe police violence against the citizens.
Earlier, Radan, the head of the law enforcement forces, had announced that starting from April 13, 2024, individuals who were found to be violating the hijab would be identified using intelligent equipment. Individuals who were caught violating the dress code in public places would receive a warning on the first offense and would be referred to the court in the subsequent stage. Vehicles in which hijab violations were detected would receive a warning on the first offense, and on the second offense, the vehicle would be impounded. All professions whose employees were found to be violating the dress code would receive a warning once and subsequently face closure (as reported by Iranian regime’s domestic media outlets)
Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) has called for the condemnation of compulsory hijab and the cessation of repressive actions against women in Iran, based on the reports of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women at the United Nations and the Truth Finding Committee.
