Tehran: The Islamic Republic of Iran is reportedly planning to open a ‘treatment clinic’ for women who defied the country’s mandatory hijab laws.
According to a report by The Guardian on Thursday, November 14, Tehran’s Women and Family Department’s Head, Mehri Talebi Darestani, announced the opening of a ‘hijab removal treatment clinic’.
The clinic will provide “scientific and psychological treatment,” to women who remove their hijabs. It aims to uphold principles of dignity, modesty, chastity, and hijab.
Darestani states that clinic visits are voluntary and not mandatory, and will be supervised by Iran’s Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The move comes only days after a 30-year-old student from the Islamic Azad University in Tehran stripped down to her knickers in protest of the dress rule. The authorities quickly labelled her’mentally disturbed’.
Critics argue that recent measures show a growing push to suppress women’s protests, stemming from the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested for alleged hijab violations.
On September 16, 2022, Amini died in the custody of morality police after being arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress rule for women.
Amini’s death sparked nationwide protests often referred to as the “Women, Life, and Freedom” protests that swept Iran for months, only subsiding in January.
Protests were renewed periodically in several locations during the months that followed.
