Escalation of repressive measures against women in Iranian cities

Regime-run news agency ISNA reported that the director of the brigade known as “Amr beh maroof va nahei az monker”* of the province of Esfahan said women office employees who are not properly veiled will be reported to the court of administrative violations.

He said: "Unfortunately some of the council offices do not enjoy the protection of our brigade yet and are having trouble with their female employees. We, at least conveyed the parameters of proper veiling to the offices and bureaus but still some women do not observe these guidelines in governmental offices; so if these women do not want to observe the rules, they will be reported to the court of administrative violations."

He confessed to the intensification of the suppression and said: "We have confronted those cars whose drivers dared to play harsh music; we have also destroyed the satellite dishes and dealt with replacing the inappropropriate mannequins in shops and store windows as well.”

* This Islamic rule actually means that any believer can command the Islamic laws and “warn” those who they consider to be violators; if however the violator does not obey, they can be deal with in any measure of violence that is deemed necessary by the person commanding the laws. It is in other words, sanctioned vigilantism. In most Muslim countries there is a special organization to perform this “duty” however individuals outside the organization have taken it upon themselves to carry out such acts and have been known to receive lenient sentences and in some cases no sentences at all.