Iran arrests more than 300 anti-hijab campaigners

TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have arrested more than 300 people accused of campaigning against the mandatory headscarf, local media reported on Sunday.

"Some of the actions taken (...) include the identification of more than 300 people who were campaigning against the hijab in various ways," the Fars news agency cited an Iranian official as saying. "They were all arrested," added Ali Khanmohammadi, spokesman for the state-affiliated Organisation for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

There was no indication as to what period the arrests took place over and whether those arrested were still in detention. Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, Iranian law has required all women, regardless of nationality or religious belief, to cover their bodies with loose clothing and veil their heads in public.

Many have pushed the boundaries over the past two decades by allowing their head coverings to slide back and reveal more hair, especially in Tehran and other major cities. But in recent months, according to local media, authorities in various cities across the country have been cracking down on such ‘violations’.

Iran in June last year elected ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi, who replaced a moderate, Hassan Rouhani. An early July letter by the deputy prosecutor of Mashhad banning unveiled women from taking the metro in the holy city has stirred controversy. In late June police arrested several girls in the southern city of Shiraz after they removed their head coverings during a skateboarding event, along with the organisers.