Seizure of Vehicles for Enforcing Mandatory Hijab; Borhani: It's Illegal; Do Not Hand Over Your Keys or Car

A lawyer emphasized that the seizure of vehicles for not adhering to mandatory hijab is "illegal without a judicial order," questioning, "Why does the police force not stop its illegal actions?" Mohsen Borhani, a lawyer and university professor, reacted to the seizure of cars belonging to citizens who refuse to comply with mandatory hijab by advising people to "not hand over their car or keys" to the authorities. He stressed in a tweet: "They do not have the right to detain you." Borhani also suggested that citizens document the illegal actions of officials, stating: "Do not neglect to use your camera to record illegal actions." This lawyer, who previously made headlines with his explicit opposition to death sentences for detained protesters, responded to the police's actions regarding mandatory hijab by stating: "The Supreme Court has ruled in various cases that a vehicle is not a means of committing the crime of not observing the religious hijab and has allowed for retrials." Borhani emphasized that "if the court does not have the right to seize a vehicle, then the police certainly have no such right" and questioned law enforcement officials about why they do not "end their illegal actions." Additionally, the legal advisory group "Dadban" tweeted that according to the law, judicial agents "only have the authority to directly detain citizens in cases of flagrant crimes"; otherwise, "for detentions, entering homes, seizing property, and any other actions, a judicial order is required and must be presented to citizens." Dadban also outlined the characteristics of a valid judicial order as including "having the mark and emblem of the judiciary," the name of the "issuing authority," and the "name of the judicial official" who issued it. Meanwhile, in previous days, the first branch of the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic ruled in several cases that the seizure of vehicles due to "discovery of the rider's hijab" was "illegal." Abbas Naqipour Nasirabadi, a lawyer, emphasized that "one cannot compel people to observe the law with illegal tools," stating that "the sealing of commercial and administrative places" is also "subject to the same ruling." Following the approval of the "Chastity and Hijab" bill based on Article 85 of the Islamic Republic's Constitution in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Mohsen Borhani described "one of the biggest victims" of this legislation as "the judiciary and judges of the country." This lawyer stated: "The formation of thousands of cases and the obligation of judges to issue rulings based on a foolish statute and the confrontation of the judiciary with citizens and creating distrust towards the judiciary are just some of the consequences of the legislative adventure of a specific minority." Previously, Ali Mojtahedzadeh, a lawyer, warned that "the implementation of the hijab bill will put the country in a state of urban conflict," stating: "The logic of legal governance requires us to admit that the provisions of the hijab bill lack any rational and social logic." Furthermore, Tanaz Kolahchian, a lawyer, told Voice of America that even members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly preferred not to have their signatures on the "Chastity and Hijab" bill. John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council at the White House, previously stated: "After the killing of Mahsa Amini and the popular protests, the people of Iran should now be able to make decisions for themselves and women should choose their own attire." Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, in response to a question from a Voice of America Persian section reporter, stated that the Islamic Republic has not learned from recent protests.