Fashion police back on job in Iran

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Religious leaders crack down on 'immodest dress' and bad hijabs

Like their counterparts in the West, girls in Iran often check the mirror before they head out the door. But instead of inspecting their hair or makeup, women here are looking to make sure there is no offending strand of hair showing, no hint of cosmetics.

After all, they could be fined more than $1,000 if they're judged too fashionable.

The morality police are at it again.

Within the last few weeks, they've launched a new drive to crack down on anyone deemed to be wearing "bad hijab" or flouting the rules of chaste behaviour in other ways.

As part of the campaign, the authorities have raised the fine for improper hijabs up to $1,300. Men can also be fined if it's determined they violated public decency rules.

The "bad hijab" fines are proving lucrative business for the police. They range from $10 a finger for nail polish, eyeliner or lipstick to $200 for men wearing short-sleeved or tight-fitting shirts.

A suntan can cost a woman up to $400.

The hijab campaign is nothing new.

But after the unrest caused by last year's disputed presidential election, the authorities appeared to have put their hijab obsession aside as they confronted more serious political issues.

No more, however.

About a month ago, Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, who is also deputy commander in chief of the police, announced that the morality police were back on the job.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave the reinvigorated "bad hijab" campaign the green light at a meeting with senior police officers early this year in which he asked them to "deal harshly with corruption in society." "Those who, either deliberately or through ignorance, sully the face of society of religion, chastity and virtue must be dealt with effectively and correctly," Khamenei said.

The supreme leader's comments triggered a concerted response from the clergy, particularly from Friday prayer leaders across the country, who began using their sermons to bemoan the poor observance of hijab regulations and the Islamic restrictions on interaction between the sexes.

The most widely reported remarks on the subject came from Kazem Seddighi, the Friday prayers leader for Tehran, who declared on April 16 that earthquakes were caused by women wearing revealing clothing.

Mohammad-Taqi Rahbar, who heads the clerical faction in parliament, asked, "What part of those tiny head scarves that some women throw on, with their hair showing, or the tight-fitting outfits that they wear like dancers or Hollywood actresses, bears a resemblance to Islamic hijab?"

Currently, at least 27 government agencies are working together to enforce the hijab and chastity initiative. A new organization called the "council for a strategy on upholding virtue and prohibiting vice" is to be established. Its head will be appointed by the supreme leader.

Thus, those radical forces that have been demanding the creation of a "ministry of virtue" for years will finally see their dream come true.

The initiative will even be enforced in kindergartens. The interior minister has ruled that children will be allowed to play only games that are religiously correct and in tune with Islamic culture. They will no longer be taught to dance. It has also been proposed that the 14,000 privately run kindergartens across the country be taken over by the state.

Women who work for the government will be subject to a uniform dress code, while the labour ministry has been instructed to inform private firms about the proper dress code and rules about makeup and male-female interaction their employees should observe.

The same goes for universities. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, secretary of the Guardian Council, has given a Friday prayers sermon demanding that students who flout the hijab rules be failed on tests.

Rasa Sowlat is a reporter in Iran who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a non-profit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict.