Iran's judiciary chief threatens to prosecute exposed women ‘without mercy’

Iran's court director has warned to punish women who appear in public undressed ‘without mercy’ in response to a rising number of women disobeying the mandatory clothing code, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

The admonition from Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei follows a statement from the Interior Ministry on Thursday that reaffirmed the government's requirement for the headscarf.

According to numerous news outlets, Ejei stated that ‘unveiling is equivalent to hatred with (our) values.’ He warned, without elaborating, that anyone “who performs such abnormal activities will be punished” and ‘prosecuted without mercy.’

The top justice of Iran, Ejei, stated that law enforcement officials were “required to send evident offenses and any form of aberration that is against the Islamic code that occurs in public to judicial authorities.”

With the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in the morality police's custody in September of last year, an increasing number of Iranian women have abandoned their headscarves. Mahsa Amini was held for purportedly disobeying the hijab law.

After she died, government forces forcefully put down a national uprising that had been brewing for months.

Women are frequently seen wearing nothing in malls, restaurants, shops, and on the streets around the nation, risking arrest for disobeying the required dress code. The morality police are being resisted in videos that have taken over social media.

Women in Iran are required to cover their hair and wear long, baggy clothing to hide their figures under the Islamic Sharia rule that was implemented following the 1979 revolution. Offenders have been subject to public censure, penalties, or arrest.

The Interior Ministry declared on Thursday that there will be no “retreat or tolerance” on the subject and referred to the veil as “one of the civilizational pillars of the Iranian nation” and “one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic.”

It exhorted regular people to confront exposed ladies. Such orders have given hardliners the confidence to assault women with impunity in the past.