TEHRAN: Tehran police have arrested 29 women for appearing in publicwithout a headscarf as protests against the dress code in force since theIslamic revolution of 1979 intensify, Iranian media reported on Friday.
Those arrested were accused of public order offences and referred to thestate prosecutor’s office, the Fars, ILNA and Tasnim news agencies reportedwithout elaborating.
Chief prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri had played down the escalatingprotests on Wednesday, saying they were “trivial” and “childish” movespossibly incited by foreigners.
He had been asked about a woman detained earlier this week for standing ona pillar box in a busy street waving her headscarf on the end of a stick.
Unprecedented images of at least 11 women protesting the same way had beenwidely shared on social media.
A prominent human rights lawyer told AFP on Tuesday that one of thedetained women had her bail set at more than $100,000 (80,000 euros).
Montazeri said those flouting “hijab” rules — which require headscarvesand modest clothing — must have been encouraged by outsiders.
But even religiously conservative Iranians have voiced support for theprotests, with many saying that religious rules should be a personal choice.
At least two photos shared on Twitter on Wednesday showed women intraditional black chador robes, standing on pillar box with signssupporting freedom of choice for women.
One held a sign reading: “I love my hijab but I’m against compulsory hijab.”
Female activist Azar Mansouri, a member of the reformist Union of IslamicIranian People party, said attempts to control female clothing had failedover many decades.
“Women show their opposition to such forceful approaches by their veryclothing, from resisting covering their hair to wearing long boots andleggings,” she wrote in a series of tweets this week.
Women have increasingly flouted the Islamic republic’s clothing rules inrecent years and often let their headscarves fall around their necks.
Morality police once rigidly enforced the rules, but are a much less commonsight since President Hassan Rouhanilink>came to power in 2013,promising greater civil liberties.
The protests appear to mirror that of a woman who stood in Tehran’s busyEnghelab (Revolution) Street in December without a headscarf and waving awhite scarf on a stick. – AFP