TEHRAN, 14 July 2004 — A fresh crackdown by Iranian police targeting insufficiently veiled women has prompted a serious debate within the Islamic republic’s now-dominant conservatives over how to tackle what they see as an erosion of Islamic values.
For the past few weeks police have been carrying out a series of operations across the capital Tehran, rounding up large numbers of young women sporting flimsy headscarves, three-quarter length trousers and shape-revealing coats.
Witnesses said the detainees — picked up in parks, fast food restaurants or from sidewalks — have been briefly hauled into police stations and subjected to lessons on morality before being freed.
While the crackdown is nothing new —police regularly stage such operations at the outset of the hot summer months — residents are nevertheless questioning whether it is a reflection the recent changes in Iran’s political landscape and a sign of things to come.
Morals police and Islamic vigilantes have launched a crackdown on “improper dress”, seizing tight coats and cropped trousers from fashionable shopping centers and detaining scores of women every day for flouting the Islamic dress code.
The dress code, or hijab in Persian, was imposed after the 1979 revolution and requires women to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures.
Roshanak, 27, was arrested by police and held for two days when her scarf slipped off while parking her car. “My husband had to pay 10 million rials ($1,170) to free me and I am pending trial. My lawyer said I may be lashed as well.”
While the crackdown on improper hijab is not new — enforcement typically spikes in the summer as soaring temperatures prompt many women to test the boundaries of the law — the level of debate accompanying it is unprecedented.
According to local media the Interior Ministry is drafting new guidelines on hijab to clarify what can and cannot be worn. For many, ruling on the acceptable length of women’s coats or whether sandals and earrings are banned imperils the tiny sartorial freedoms women have gained in recent years.
“The way people dress is a matter for individuals to decide ... the government cannot approve a bill like this,” the reformist Sharq newspaper said in an editorial.
But many clerics, alarmed by the growing number of women who have cast aside the traditional head-to-toe black chador in favor of colorful scarves, tight coats and calf-length Capri pants, think the proposed bill comes not a moment too soon.
“Some women appear in the streets half a millimeter from breaking the Islamic dress code,” said hard-line cleric Ahmad Khatami. “It is a very dangerous trend.”
One senior cleric proposed an anti-vice ministry similar to that used by the Taleban to force Afghan women to cover up and men to grow beards. A hard-line vigilante group has blamed bad hijab for rising rape cases and urged police to stamp it out.
Political analysts say the hijab issue may be a litmus test for the future of social freedoms, particularly now that conservatives have all but ousted reformists from power.
Pro-reform President Mohammad Khatami, credited with encouraging more relaxed enforcement of rules such as hijab since his 1997 election, is in his last year in office. His allies lost their parliamentary majority to conservatives in a February vote marred by the mass disqualification of reformists.
“The moderates in the conservative camp know that a severe crackdown on social issues would cause a backlash from people but the traditionalists want to make an issue out of hijab,” said political analyst Hossein Rassam. Reflecting divisions on how to treat the issue, many of the dissenting voices against stricter dress codes come from within the conservative camp itself. “Any policy for cracking down on those who violate hijab which is imposed by the state will fail,” the conservative Resalat newspaper said in an editorial.
Even supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, normally a proponent of strict adherence to Islamic values, sounded a flexible note in a key speech last week. “Cultural Mimicry is a big danger, but don’t get me wrong, I am not opposed to fashion, variety and innovation,” Khamenei said.
