Iran International
An Iranian government entity enforcing Islamic rules says the intelligence ministry has arrested 300 anti-hijab activist “ringleaders” working “for the enemy.”
Ali Khan-Mohammadi, spokesman of the Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil Headquarters, said Sunday the activists who worked for “the enemy” and “combated the Islamic Republic’s hijab rules in various ways” were arrested in concurrence with the implementation of the Hijab and Chastity Regulations in government offices, he added.
He did not provide more details, but some social media activists and women who removed their headscarves in public as a sign of protest have been arrested since mid-July.
Hardline media say implementation of the Hijab and Chastity Regulations will soon be more strictly applied in other establishments such as shopping centers. Authorities are also giving more power to law enforcement, security guards in public parks, as well as ordinary citizens to admonish those whose appearance does not conform with the prescribed dress code.
Although the government says “admonishment”, but special morality police scouting the streets actually arrest women for violating the Islamic dress code.
Harsher than usual enforcement of the hijab in the past few months has raised protests from many in Iran including some moderate religious and political figures.
In early July President Ebrahim Raisi ordered the implementation of stricter regulations. He put an ideological spin on the issue and accused foreign enemies of the Islamic Republic and Islam of using extensive satellite TV and social media networks to “target the society’s cultural backbone and foundations of its religious values.”
Khan-Mohammadi, a low-ranking cleric, also alleged that “the enemy” conducts intensive cultural activities against the hijab, including through importing goods and clothing that are against the society’s Islamic norms, and thanked security and intelligence forces for neutralising such plots.
There is no evidence of any foreign conspiracy, except some Iranian activists in the West campaigning against compulsory hijab. One such activist in the United States was even reportedly targeted for kidnapping or assassination by Islamic Republic agents.
The staff of the Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil Headquarters are trained and responsible for admonishing or detaining citizens, particularly women if Islamic regulations, including hijab rules, are ignored or not abided by.
In the past few months women and anti-hijab activists have come under such intense pressure that even many women who wear the hijab by choice have joined a social media campaign against forced hijab and hijab enforcement street patrols.
Sepideh Rashno, a 28-year-old artist and writer, for instance, was arrested because of an acrimonious dispute with a hijab enforcer in a city bus on July 16 and posting a video of her quarrel with the hijab enforcer on social media which went viral.
She was tortured into denouncing herself and other activists, expressing regrets for her confrontation with the hijab enforcer, and posting the video on social media.
Rashno has not been put on trial yet, but her so-called “confessions” were aired by the state-run television (IRIB) soon after her arrest. She had been so badly beaten before the telecast that bruises were quite visible on her face.
Rashno has been charged with “association and collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the country's security through communication with foreigners and propaganda activity against the Islamic Republic and encouraging people to commit corruption and prostitution" and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic”. Authorities have set Rashno’s bail at a very high sum of 8 billion rials.
“The host must show respect toward the guest, and the guest must be respectful of the hosts habits and traditions,” Sadr said in his message addressed to Iranian pilgrims, adding that they should observe discipline when entering the country for the upcoming, million-strong Arbaeen Walk, have official permits and passports, and respect the country’s officials, security forces, and laws.
The Arbaeen ceremony which falls on September 18 this year marks the end of the 40-day mourning period following Ashura -- the religious ritual for the commemoration of the third Shia Muslim Imam, Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in 680 AD – is the world's largest annual gathering.
Millions of Shia Muslims gather every year to mark Arbaeen in Karbala, Iraq, where the imam is buried. Many walk long distances, even hundreds of kilometres, to the shrine of the Imam.
Iranian authorities deploy all religious entities and media to encourage pilgrimage to Karbala. Government organisations and the state affiliated charities as well as municipalities and city councils often allocate considerable budgets to organize the Arbaeen Walk and offer various services, including free Wi-Fi, along the way and in Karbala. Last year Tehran City Council approved two urgent bills to allocate a budget of 60 billion rials for holding the Jim ceremonies.
Sadr pointed out in his message that Iraq is not obliged to accept more pilgrims than it can handle and urged Iraqi authorities not to entrust the security of the ceremonies to anyone other than the country’s own security forces. He was referring to armed militia groups affiliated with the Islamic Republic and others.
Sadr also urged Iraqis to show self-restraint and avoid any kind of conflict with pilgrims, cooperate with security forces in maintaining the security of pilgrims and holy sites, and avoid divisive slogans.
Relative calm was restored in Iraq after Sadr urged all his supporters to leave the streets following recent clashes between his supporters and pro-Iranian militias that killed about 30 people.
Violence erupted in Iraq on August 29 when Sadr -- who seeks to curb the influence of the Islamic Republic in Iraqi politics -- announced that he was quitting politics because his followers were not getting a fair share in the political structure of the country.
As violence intensified, Iranian media reported that all air and land borders with Iraq were closed and that the Iranian embassy in Baghdad and other diplomatic missions faced attacks by Sadrists.
Political rivalry between Sadr’s followers and Iran-aligned parties and paramilitary groups, mainly militias of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq group, has left Iraq without a government since the parliamentary elections of October 2021 in which Sadrists won the most seats.
Clashes between Sadr’s followers and Iranian-backed militias in the end of August in the Iraqi capital, Basra, and other major cities have left over a dozen dead.
Apparently referring to the recent violence, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei blamed the United States for accusations that Iran meddles in the affairs of other nations in a speech Saturday and said Iran’s encouragement of other nations “to stand up against world powers’ bullying” is the main reason for tensions with the Islamic Republic.