Tehran Police Chief: No Compromise in Dealing with Hijab Protesters

The Chief of Police of Greater Tehran warned protesters against mandatory hijab in Iran that the police have "no compromise" in dealing with them, but added that police officers have been reminded to "observe legal decorum in dealing with all citizens." Hossein Rahimi made this statement on the sidelines of a plan known as the detention of "thugs" in Tehran while speaking to reporters, stating that "observing Islamic decorum in an Islamic society and the Islamic Republic is obligatory and necessary for all citizens." The highest police authority in Greater Tehran, in response to the publication of a violent encounter between a police officer and one of the hijab protesters, initially stated: "These individuals will face decisive action from the police, and the police have no compromise with them." However, he added that "we have reminded our officers to observe legal decorum in dealing with all people, including suspects, and good decisions have been made to prevent such incidents from recurring." Rahimi's comments came in response to the release of a video showing Maryam Shariyatmand, a hijab protester, being violently thrown from an electrical post by law enforcement, resulting in severe injuries to her leg and subsequent surgery. The police officer, after throwing Shariyatmand from the electrical post, used vulgar language to warn citizens present at the scene who protested his actions. The release of this video sparked widespread reactions and criticisms on social media, and it seems that after the police faced pressure regarding this issue, Rahimi reminded his officers. Recently, some social media users reported a severe encounter involving a plainclothes officer with a girl protesting the mandatory hijab named "Hamraz Sadeghi," which led to her arm being broken and her detention. Eyewitnesses reported that she was standing on a telecommunications box at the intersection of Somayeh and Sepahbod Ghorani streets in Tehran on the fifth of Esfand, holding a headscarf. Additionally, journalist Zhila Baniyaghoubi tweeted about the deteriorating condition of Maryam Shariyatmand, another one of the "Girls of Revolution Street," in the general ward of Qarchak Varamin prison. According to Baniyaghoubi, Shariyatmand, who was thrown from the electrical post by law enforcement, has suffered severe injuries to her leg, has undergone surgery, and "needs immediate medical care," but officials are reportedly ignoring this issue. Shaparak Shajari-Zadeh, who was arrested after protesting the mandatory hijab on Qeytarieh Street, has reportedly been beaten while in detention, according to her family. Following criticisms of the police's violent actions against critics of the mandatory hijab, Salman Samani, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, announced that "the law enforcement agency, as a judicial authority, is responsible for dealing with observable crimes." The law enforcement agency also announced on Bahman 4 that "the law provides for up to two months of imprisonment for being without hijab in public places." This announcement stated that "encouraging people to be without hijab falls under the second clause of Article 639 of the Islamic Penal Code, which carries a prison sentence of one to ten years and cannot be converted to an alternative punishment." The articles of the Islamic Penal Code cited by the law enforcement agency relate to "encouragement of corruption and prostitution," and there is no phrase in this law referring to "encouraging to be without hijab." Warning from Mohsen Hashemi about the securityization of the hijab issue. On Tuesday, in another event, the head of the Tehran City Council called for adherence to "religious, ethical, and legal aspects" in dealing with opponents of the mandatory hijab and warned against the "security" of the hijab issue in society. Mohsen Hashemi, in his remarks at the Tehran City Council meeting, stated that "almost all religious authorities and scholars consider hijab a religious obligation," and called for a uniform approach to "non-praying" and "non-hijab" individuals. Hashemi said, "Just as there is no confrontation with non-praying individuals regarding prayer, from a religious perspective, the sin related to not observing hijab is the individual's responsibility." He described the mandatory hijab at the beginning of the revolution as "a public demand" and raised the question of "how we have acted in educating the new generation that the youth in the first decade of the revolution were passionate defenders of hijab, but now some of them are in doubt and others are opposed?" Mohsen Hashemi categorized critics of the hijab situation in Iran into two groups: the religious and the opponents of mandatory hijab, with the former believing that the hijab law is not enforced and the latter recently expressing their opinions in the form of the Girls of Revolution Street. The head of the Tehran City Council described hijab as a "social matter" that "has various dimensions, and turning it into a security and political issue can have negative and dangerous consequences on both sides of society." He emphasized the necessity of observing "religious, ethical, and legal aspects" in dealing with opponents of the mandatory hijab and added that this approach should not "intensify the atmosphere of opposition in part of society against religious rulings." The spontaneous movement against mandatory hijab, known as the "Girls of Revolution Street," has also led to the installation of roofs on telecommunications boxes. Meanwhile, Mohammad Reza Bidkham, the public relations manager of the telecommunications company, stated that the company's motivation for installing roofs on some telecommunications boxes in Tehran is to prevent "theft or damage" to the boxes. Bidkham, in an interview with Fars, did not consider the roof installation on the telecommunications box to be "new or specific" and stated that "some street vendors set up their stalls on the boxes, and due to the sensitivity of telecommunications equipment and the importance of communications, preventive measures are taken to maintain the health of the equipment when such cases are observed." He claimed that the roof installed on the telecommunications box in front of French Pastry on Revolution Street, where the first protest against mandatory hijab was publicly declared by the first "Girl of Revolution Street," was "completely technical" and that "telecommunications did not receive any orders or notifications regarding this matter from any authority." In this context, 70 female documentary filmmakers have called for an end to violent behavior against the "Girls of Revolution Street." Narges Hosseini, the second "Girl of Revolution Street," stated: "I have no regrets." 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